Relearning the Steps
by Shinimegami7
Summary: In the chaos that is the Wizarding world after the war three young adults are struggling to keep up the facade that others are accustomed to. With the introduction of special security measures they will meet others who've faced the same demons... yaoi
1. Chapter 1

I noticed there are few well written Naruto and Harry Potter crossovers. So I decided to try write one. It takes place after the Deathly Hallows. Confused? You'll see. Also… there will be yaoi, but only really concerning the Naruto portion of the story. As much as I love Harry slash, I'm trying to keep with the actual story line. Since Harry eventually has kids and whatnot… I don't think I can marry him off to Draco or some such thing. Too bad. Well, hope you all like it. My first Harry Potter fic EvAr. Also… I'm up to chapter 404 in Naruto. There will be some spoilers since I'm aging the kids to about 17 or 18. Sorry.

I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. I don't own Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling does. Aren't they awesome?

Chapter 1

"I wrote to Professor McGonagall Harry."

The bespectacled man looked to his friend with a questioning look.

"We're to go to Hogwarts this year to make up for the year we took a vacation." She grinned at him to hide the mirth in her voice.

The man merely nodded and slowly let his eyes drift towards the wall where he knew someone had placed a listening charm.

"I rather liked Australia myself… Too bad Ron contracted Spattergoit right before we left."

"Yes… seems he's recovered though. I can't imagine being bed ridden for a year…"

Hermione allowed herself a small smile and glanced quickly at the wall and away again. They both turned to look at the nurse who wandered into their room, steaming trays of food floating in front of her.

"Hello there. Lunch is ready!" She smiled.

"Oh thank you." Hermione answered for them both. "It looks delicious."

"I'll send your compliments to the house elves then." The woman nodded politely and turned around to leave.

Harry looked at Hermione to see if the news had affected her.

"Oh come off it Harry. I know most places use house elves. St. Mungo's couldn't run properly if it didn't have some one to regularly cook and clean. I think that will be my first order of business when I finish my lessons." The witch clucked her tongue. "And the ministry complains that there aren't enough jobs to go around." She shook her head.

"Hermione, if there's anyone who can convince the ministry that it's backwards it's you."

The witch blushed but said no more.

-

Laughing eyes, a bright smile, and a ruggedly handsome face. The portrait of Jiraiya stared up at Tsunade. She sighed softly and wrung her hands carefully. Even now, years later, there was so much that reminded her of him. So many places, times, days and people. Looking at Naruto made her sad. But hope also filled that void that Jiraiya had left. Hope for the village and the future. She grasped the portrait firmly and held it to her chest.

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune questioned her from the other side of the door. "May I come in?"

The blonde shook her head to disperse the past that had settled around her like a thick fog. The picture found its way back on the wall and the Godaime sat back down at her desk.

"Come in."

-

"Minerva… I do think that it is for the best…" Kingsley comforted the elderly witch. "With all the confusion and the fighting still going on…"

"That will do Kingsley. Thank you for your kind words." She mopped at her eyes with a white linen handkerchief. "Without the aide of Albus' magic strengthening the wards… I agree that we do need some sort of outside help…" She looked despondently at the portraits of the deceased headmasters of Hogwarts. "Albus, what would you suggest?"

The painting of the previous Headmaster opened his blue eyes.

"Ninjas."

-

"YAHOO!!!"

The forest shook with the exuberant yell of one Uzumaki Naruto. Birds flew in all different directions and began to chirp in a scared frenzy.

The blond ninja whooped once more before speeding up his already sprinting run.

"SLOW DOWN NARUTO!" Sakura cursed as she lagged behind the blond. She would have sent more chakra to her legs and feet for increased speed, but they hadn't had a chance to rest after the last mission and Naruto had taken off towards the village the moment it had been completed.

"He sure seems excited…" Sai smiled at Sakura as he ran next to her. She could tell that he was slowing his pace to match hers.

"Yes… I think he knows something is about to happen… Tsunade-sama sent me a Katsuyu clone to tell me that we'll be leaving on a mission straight away again." The pink haired woman sighed. "I was so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow."

Sai smirked. "Well, we could always bring Ino instead of you…"

The artist-nin ducked a punch he was sure might have severely injured him if not killed him and sped up. The medic-nin growled and accelerated her own speed to catch up with the dark haired man.

-

"That…" The pink haired kunoichi muttered as she gasped for breath. "Was… low…"

"But it got you here faster didn't it?" Sai smiled kindly and watched Sakura carefully. He didn't feel like getting punched in the face again. The first time she had ever done it was bad enough.

The pink haired woman only glared at him from beneath her bangs before she straightened up and looked him level in the eye.

"We better report to Tsunade… Where did Naruto go?" She looked for a familiar blond head but found none. The entrance to the village was occupied solely by them and the ANBU guarding the gates. Even if you couldn't see them.

"I think he went to Ichiraku's… Should we fetch him first?" Sai trailed off as he watched the other ninja begin stalking into town. Her look booked no argument so he followed her quickened pace.

'You owe me Naruto…' Sai sighed.

-

"Hey Neji!" Naruto swung through a large window and landed nimbly on his feet.

The ninja in question turned his pale eyes up to the blond.

"Welcome back." The dark haired man replied.

"Thanks." Naruto leaned closer to the Hyuuga and captured his lips in a light kiss. "It's great to be back. I mean, I love other countries and all… but the Leaf will always be home sweet…" Naruto was silenced by Neji placing their lips together once more.

"You talk too much."

Naruto grinned goofily but nodded his head. Neji was a creature of quiet and solitude. He understood that.

"Have you reported in to the Godaime yet?" His lovers pale eyes bored holes into his face.

"Uh…" Naruto grinned once more.

"I suggest you go do that…" The man turned his back, once more concentrating on the paper and brush in front of him.

Naruto delivered a quick kiss to Neji's cheek and jumped back out the window.

"By the way, Sasuke says 'hi' and that he'll be back from his mission in about a week."

The blond halted so quickly that he was forced to use chakra on the bottoms of his feet and hands to still himself on the window sill.

"He's coming back?"

The mission Sasuke had been on was intended as punishment and had been a very long and drawn out ordeal. Since he had finally been brought back after the eventual defeat of the organization Akatsuki he'd been an undercover spy in the ranks of several anti-government organizations that had popped up. To say that he was a member of the village was a joke. He hadn't been back since his original surrender and subsequent house arrest. Tsunade had kept him under watch for about a month before deciding that he was harmless enough to release back into society. She even stated that he seemed calmer somehow.

"Yes. He finally got sick of the whole thing and single handedly destroyed over half the organizations. He was supposed to wait for back up… but apparently some old friends helped out…"

Neji smirked as he referred to Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo. They'd come with Sasuke and had surrendered along side him. Karin had taken up residency at the hospital as a healer, Suigetsu with Sasuke in his old apartment, and Juugo was currently living in the hospital letting Tsunade poke and prod him. After finally admitting defeat for Sasuke's affections Karin had turned to a new love in the form of a pink haired Kunoichi. Her newest passion was bugging the crap out of Sakura any chance she got. Suigetsu had actually collected the swords from the Legendary Swordsmen and had been content with that. After all, each sword was proof that he had conquered a great swordsman. What more did he need to prove? Juugo was content with living at the hospital and allowing Tsunade to try and cure him. He had a feeling she was closer to doing it than Orochimaru had pretended to be.

"The rest of Hawk helped out then…" Naruto grinned. Sure Sasuke's friends were weird, but who was he to judge?

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Neji raised an eyebrow delicately.

The blond looked confused for a moment but when it finally registered in his brain that he was currently in Neji's window sill he blushed.

"Right. I'll come see you again after I report in to Tsunade."

Before Neji could reply Naruto had disappeared in a cloud of smoke and leaves. He smirked and looked back at his paper. He raised the brush and began writing once more.

'He's just fine. A bundle of energy as usual. He's really excited to see you. Thanks for finishing up so quickly for him.'

-

So… that's chapter one of Relearning the Steps. This chapter gave a rough feeling for the pairings I'm going to be instilling… Not quite sure if I want to put Sakura and Karin together… I could… but I might not. If you're kind enough to leave a review, let me know what you want! Not all pairings suggested will be written, I just like to have a feel for what the readers want. Hope you all enjoyed.

1714 words.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, thanks for the reviews guys! Hope I don't disappoint! And… I'm not sure about Kakashi… I could always put him with Iruka like I usually do… but if you're looking for something else, lemme know so I can think about it. I'm open to relationship suggestions!

Relearning the Steps

"Dear Albus you must be joking…" Kingsley muttered under his breathe.

"Actually no my friend, I'm quite serious. In my search for the deathly hallows I found some rather interesting people… Well, rather a very interesting place filled with many interesting people." The last headmaster winked at the Minister for Magic and turned to Minerva. "Please do send an owl to this address: Hi no Kuni, Konohagakure, Hokage Tower, Sandaime Hokage."

The new headmaster blinked owlishly at the previous headmaster.

"It's Japanese my dear Minerva. The ninja live in our current Japan but use a similar magic to ours to hide themselves… I don't think the ministry has heard of them before today as they tend to be a very secretive lot…"

"I see…" Kingsley shook his head. "Well, do you think I should send an ambassador or should we just send the letter…?"

Albus' blue eyes twinkled in the semidarkness of the office. "If my dear friend receives this letter there will be no need, but because it has been many a year since my last visit I'm afraid I don't know much of what has been going on in their area. I do believe you should write in the letter to send a reply should they require an ambassador."

"Yes Albus. I shall see to it that this is done… How do you suppose we are to convince them to help us?"

"The ninja villages have offices where missions are accepted and given to the most capable ninja for the task. They operate in groups of three usually; occasionally there are some that work alone. I'm sure when you meet them they can answer your questions more thoroughly. As I've said, it has been many a year since I last visited."

"More importantly, we need to get this done quickly as the new term is to start right away…" Minerva wrung her hands. "And we have Potter in the school again this year…"

"Indeed we do… trouble seems to follow that boy no matter what. We will need the best they can spare…"

-

Naruto stepped into Tsunade's office with a sheepish look on his face. Sakura was glaring at him, Sai was trying to calm her down albeit rather unsuccessfully and Tsunade seemed to be fighting with an owl.

"What's going on?" He eyed the bird suspiciously.

"Nice of you to show up for your own report brat." Tsunade growled at her favorite blond. "This stupid owl showed up a moment ago and started freaking out when I tried to grab the letter…"

Sakura rushed to help her mentor. She grabbed the bird by its wings and held it gently until Tsunade had grabbed the letter.

"The hell? It's written in English… Romaji… and addressed the Sandaime…"

The bird shrieked at her and attempted to claw at the message.

"You stupid bird! The one this letter is addressed to is DEAD. I'm his replacement!"

At her shout the bird calmed somewhat enough that Sakura felt safe in letting it go. It hooted balefully at the Godaime and stared at her.

"Well I'll be damned… it understood me…"

The owl glared and hooted angrily.

"Well, might as well read it… Can someone get Shikamaru? I really can't read English very well."

-

"Ron! Ronald! Over here!" Hermione jumped up and down in place as she waved to her boyfriend. Harry merely waved and smirked in his best friend's direction.

The tall redhead made his way through the crowds to his friend's side and embraced Hermione.

"Hello Ron." Harry nodded to the redhead. "How's the spattergoit?"

Ron snorted but pretended to be ill. "Oh mum says I'm over it… but I don't know if I've completely recovered…"

"Oh you ham…" Hermione lightly slapped his shoulder. "You both ready to get our things?"

"Yeah, just wait a moment 'Mione! We're still waiting for Ginny." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Oh! I forgot!"

Both the boys looked at her in disbelief.

"I'm sorry; it's just that it's always been the three of us… Old habit." She had the decency to look contrite.

"No worries Hermione." Ginny laughed as she came up behind Harry. "Sorry it took me so long. Mum was being mental again."

Harry leaned down and gave his girlfriend a quick kiss.

"So shall we get our school things?"

The four turned into Flourish and Blotts almost as one and entered the building.

-

"So… we're supposed to believe this…" Naruto stared at the letter the Godaime currently held in her possession. "Magic and wizards?" He shook his head. "Next you'll try getting me to believe in fairies and ghosts."

Tsunade sent him a scathing look. "The woman… McGonagall-sensei seems to know us through another person… Albus Dumbledore… And I remember him. I was a lot younger of course when I first heard his name. But the Sandaime did know him."

"So you're saying that this letter is true?" Sakura shook her in disbelief.

"I'm saying that it could be true… It says to respond as soon as possible… seems the school term will be starting soon." She paused as she turned over the paper. There was a wax seal on the back. She touched the seal and the room was enveloped in light. When the light cleared Team 7 each had a weapon of some sort trained on the person currently standing in the middle of the room and Tsunade was already drawing her arm back to attack.

"_Wait please! I am a teacher from Hogwarts!"_

The four paused and blinked in unison.

"_I am Minerva McGonagall, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."_

"McGonagall-sensei?" Tsunade tried. She didn't speak any English and she hoped to high hell that the woman could speak Japanese. Shikamaru had bailed out once he'd completely translated the letter.

The woman seemed to understand. She pointed a wooden stick to her throat and after a small burst of light she turned her eyes to the Hokage.

"I assume that you are the Sandaime Hokage?" Much to Tsunade's relief it was in plain Japanese this time.

"No, I am Godaime Hokage. Sandaime died some years ago."

The woman looked troubled but nodded her head.

"I have been sent as an ambassador to your village as a gesture of good will, as well as to ask a favor."

Tsunade had finally recovered from her shock and she stood up straight.

"Lower your weapons men. Sakura, grab a chair for McGonagall-sensei."

The pink haired kunoichi quickly grabbed one of the waiting chairs outside of the office and placed it in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Please McGonagall-sensei, have a seat." She offered the chair and ran back to stand with her teammates.

"Thank you my dear." She nodded politely to the kunoichi before turning her gaze back to Tsunade as she took her seat. "In our world, that is, the magical world, we have just recently gone through a war. It was a great war and many innocents and loved ones perished in the many battles. The instigator of the war was a snakelike man by the name of Lord Voldemort. He was finally defeated by one Harry Potter as was prophesized by a seer. In the aftermath of this war, there are many factions and anti-Potter movements being run by the Dark Lord's sympathizers. They intend to harm muggles, non magical people as well as half bloods, people born of muggles or who have one muggle parent. With our strongest Wizard besides Harry Potter now dead, the magical wards of our school are greatly weakened and unfortunately, I cannot guarantee the student's safety should we start the school term."

The blonde kunoichi nodded her head solemnly and gestured for the woman to continue.

"Albus is dead… but as is tradition in our school, there is a magical painting of him in our school. When we could not think of a solution to this problem he suggested acquiring the aid of your ninjas." McGonagall pulled out her wand and tapped the table. A tea set appeared and began brewing tea. "I am here to discuss a plan of defense should you be able to spare some of your men and women."

The entire room seemed to forget the woman was there as they watched the tea set move around on its own.

"Another problem we face this year at the school is over population. As the entirety of last years curriculum was not adequate for proper learning we have to pull back our entire class of Seventh Years and have them repeat the year. We will be full beyond normal capacity and need extra teachers and staff to accommodate for this inflation."

"How many do you think you'll need? I'm afraid our services do not come cheap… not for the magnitude of this mission…"

"Price is really no object. We are a school that is funded by the ministry of magic as well as the money the founders left behind for it. There really is no set limit as to what I can afford to pay."

"As it is, I will be counting this as an A class mission. If it escalates in danger to my men I will elevate the mission to S class."

"I understand." The elder woman nodded as she waved her wand once more. The tea began to pour itself into the cups and the cups floated to each person in the room. "If you will be so kind as to demonstrate some of your skills before we discuss the issue of price…"

"Ah yes, our ninja are always looking for new ways to prove themselves…" The blonde looked to Team 7 and nodded.

The team quickly put their teacups down on the desk and backed away.

"Me first!" Naruto crowed. "Kagebunshin no Jutsu!"

Instantly they were surrounded by over 50 Narutos. Minerva looked at them and nodded.

"Is this an illusion?"

"If they were normal bunshin they would be closer to one, but because Naruto has access to a much deeper reservoir of chakra, he is able to use this secret technique to make flesh and blood clones. The only downside is that once they are sufficiently damaged, they disappear."

To demonstrate, Sakura waded her way through the bunshin and started throwing punches left and right. The bunshin all began disappearing in clouds of smoke.

"I see. Very impressive… you said he has more chakra than the others… is this just him? Or are there others that can use the same technique?"

"Anyone can use the technique but it is a forbidden technique because of the chakra required and the distribution of chakra is divided equally among all clones. We don't want our students hurting themselves or over exhausting their chakra supply. Also, most people can only make one or two clones at a time… Naruto however…"

"My current limit is 2000… But I start having problems then. Actually the problems start when I go past 200… I haven't had to make that many for a really long time."

"Problems?" Minerva eyed the blond. "As in draining your chakra?"

"No… My chakra is more… um… aggressive than anyone else's. My body begins to transform to take the form of my chakra… it causes a lot of damage to my body but is extremely useful as long as I don't spend too much time in that state."

"I see. Next ability?"

Sakura walked forward and bowed. "This is a technique that all children must be able to do in order to become a ninja. It isn't glamorous but it is one of the best and most used techniques in a ninja's arsenal." Her hands moved into the required signs. "Henge no Jutsu!"

Minerva was taken aback by the person who stood before her now. She was staring at a double of herself.

"Henge!" Now she was looking at the Hokage's double.

The pink haired girl returned to her original form.

"Is that an illusion?" Minerva smiled appreciatively.

"No McGonagall-sensei. That is a Ninjutsu. It is a physical art that molds the user's chakra around the body to project an image. Unless I am significantly damaged, I can continue the jutsu without concentration. Illusions, or as we call them: Genjutsu, require constant concentration as well as extremely high chakra precision. Not many Ninja are adept at this type."

"Alright… and you son?" The headmaster gestured to Sai.

"This is a special technique… so far as I know, I'm the only one who utilizes it… not that it cannot be learned, but others prefer to fight in different ways…"

Sai pulled out a scroll and his inks. He drew his wetted brush across the blank scroll and quickly drew out several small mice. They leapt off the page and scurried around the room.

"I wouldn't touch them… The ink stays wet and will get on you if you do." He smiled.

"Well… I'm assuming that they are real if I am able to touch them then… Do you have anyone adept in this… Genjutsu you speak of?"

"Currently available is Sakura herself as well as their sensei Kakashi…" Tsunade tapped her chin in thought. "If you could tell me exactly what duties they would be required to fulfill I will be able to assemble a team specifically suited to your purposes."

"Ah yes… I suppose that would be most prudent. We require body guards as well as teachers… and considering the conflicts that are expected to arise between the houses this year… healers. Because we want to infiltrate our enemies and take them down from the inside we will also need someone adept at infiltration. Sentries for where our magical barriers end would be needed… We will need an extremely large amount of people."

"Since I already plan on sending Naruto, his Bunshin will be able to act as sentries around the school. The moment one is defeated he gains all knowledge it possesses. As for healers… Sakura is my best… Hinata a close second. For body guards you'll want Shikamaru and Neji… my two best tacticians and both geniuses. As for teachers… why do you require a teacher of our arts?"

"I was told by Albus that your chakra is rather similar to our magic. In order to have more classes for the larger amount of students I thought it best to train some of our students in your arts."

"That would be acceptable… though I do not know the outcome of that situation… even in this village there are people who cannot become ninja…" She rubbed at her temples. "Kakashi would be able to handle that… and Iruka as well. Iruka teaches at our academy. His classes are made up of children who want to become ninja. Kakashi is one who will take the children after they become genin, fledgling ninja, and train them to the next level, chuunin."

"Yes… this seems to be all in order… though I worry about the numbers…"

"Oh, I only mentioned people who are currently not on missions. Several people are due back very soon. I will send them accordingly and they will tell you want they do best. All in all, you should be getting about 10 to 15 of my best ninja."

"And this is enough to defend a school with a population of over 500?"

"Most definitely. Most of my ninja come from clans with specialized abilities that allow them to do certain jobs a lot better than anyone else. If you'll give me an hour, I will have the first bunch ready to go with you right away."

"That quickly?" Minerva's eyes widened. "Wont they need time to say goodbye?"

"Ma'am, with all due respect, we are ninja. It is our job to be swift, silent, and efficient." Sai broke into the conversation. "We do not require time to deal with emotional matters as they are a weakness that no ninja can carry."

"We're not heartless McGonagall-sensei… but we know the dangers of our job and we know what is required of us. We all do our best for our village and our clients." Sakura smoothed over Sai's heartless explanation. "We love and laugh and cry like anyone else but when on a mission, the mission comes before all else."

The witch looked to the young people before her and despaired silently. These children, no older than most of her students were hardened warriors with a purpose. At least there was one thing they and the repeating 7th year students had in common. Surviving and fighting in a war changed one. She could tell that these children had suffered much.

"Team 7, you have an hour to gather your comrades and your supplies. Meet back here in one hour."

All three of them disappeared in a swirl of leaves and smoke.

"Is that… normal?" Minerva wondered.

"Yes. Higher level ninja use that technique to get around quickly. It's a lot faster than walking."

"We witches and wizards have a spell to do the same thing… but… I suppose the principle of it is the same."

Tsunade nodded and gestured for the woman to make herself comfortable.

"If you'll pardon me for a moment, I need to send out messenger birds to ascertain the whereabouts of my teams. They tend to move quicker when they know I have more missions lined up for them."

The witch merely waved her wand and more tea was poured into the two remaining cups.

"Please take your time."

-

Okay… so that was a rather long chapter… 8 pages not including my notes. I think it seems a little boring… but most stories are when they get to the explanation portion…

Um… as for questions to why Tsunade would send her best and so many of them… think of the money she's making on this. You know her. Unless there's a threat to the village, she's pretty money hungry. I love her no matter what though.

Technical stuff…

I'm sure we all know what it means, but for those who only know the English names of the towns and such in the Narutoverse, the translation is as follows: Fire Country, Village Hidden in the Leaves, Fire Shadow Tower, The Third Fire Shadow.

Albus seems to be the type of person to be very proper no matter where he is and I think he'd use the actual Japanese names of the place. So that's what I wrote.

Also, Romaji is when we English speaking people decide to take a Japanese word and spell it out in our alphabet. Like so: Hokage is Ho-Ka-Ge. Three katakana symbols. I wish I could actually put up the real katakana symbols… but alas, I don't have the means.

I like to use the Japanese names for things such as the jutsu and places. Also, when speaking to others, I use honorifics. '-chan, -san, -sama,' etc. Mostly because I like the way it carries more meaning when used as apposed to Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. Not to mention, if it's good enough for the manga translators, it's good enough for me.

So… after the really long note… I'm sure it bored you to death… please leave a review and let me know what you think.

Shinimegami7


	3. Chapter 3

Woo hoo! More reviews! I'm very pleased. I didn't really think I'd get much attention to this story. I admit I love a good Harry Potter Naruto crossover. Hopefully mine lives up to that. Oh… I've got another anime I'm sticking into this… it'll be apparent by the end of the chapter I'm sure… but I wont say anything at the moment.

Relearning the Steps

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny hopped off the train and onto the concrete platform. They stuck close together to avoid most of the crowd as it was bigger than they'd ever seen it in all of their years.

"Oh look! There's Neville!" Hermione pointed out their friend over the crowd. The scars on his face had mostly healed and were worn as badges of honor.

"Hey guys, how's your summer been?" He grinned toothily.

"Oh you know, at St. Mungo's for most of it… Ron recovered from his spattergoit and everything. How about you?" Harry smirked.

"Not much. Gran and I have been sending out Auror applications all over Europe. Hopefully after this year we can finally be done."

"I hear you mate." Ron laughed. "The only generation to ever spend 8 years in Hogwarts."

"You guys weren't even here for the year." Neville shook his head. "Be thankful you didn't have to sit through all the anti-muggle crap that was being taught."

"Yeah. I'm sure the first years that were banned from the school last year will have a lot of catching up to do." Ginny sighed.

"They will. But on top of my studies I volunteered to help tutor them. Professor McGonagall said she'd be setting up a class after classes for those who need extra help." Hermione grinned at her friend's gaping faces. "I'll have plenty of time to do this. And those poor first years will need all the help they can get."

"Leave it to you to make more work for yourself…" Ron muttered. "Please don't try dragging us into it. We'll have enough trouble as it is."

"Oh don't worry Ron; I want them to learn good studying habits, not your lackluster way of going about it."

The redhead blushed as his friends shared a good natured laugh.

"Very funny 'Mione."

-

"Okay…" Naruto did a quick head count and turned to the English woman that was their employer. "This is all of us for now. We'll let you know the moment there is another who is ready to come."

The woman did a quick count herself. Not many, but enough for now. She looked warily at the two men in black suits with white armor. They both wore masks so she could not see their faces. One had a spiky ponytail and earrings with brown eyes staring out from the slits in the mask while the other had long dark hair braided to his waist and no slits for eyes. The others didn't seem as threatening yet at the same time she could tell they were deadly serious. A girl with white eyes, a redhead in a lab coat and short shorts, a large dog with a rider, a man with not an ounce of skin showing, another spiky ponytail with a scar on his nose and a tall silver haired man with one eye showing. These people along with the other's she'd already met made eleven ninja.

"I'd like to introduce myself to those who haven't yet met me, and learn the names of each of you. I am Minerva McGonagall, Headmaster and Transfigurations teacher at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

The first to step forward was Sakura.

"Haruno Sakura, Jounin medic Nin and close combat fighter."

"Uzumaki Naruto, Jounin and Master of the Sage Arts."

"Sai. ANBU Root division, artist Nin."

"Umino Iruka, Chuunin teacher at the ninja academy."

"Hatake Kakashi, Jounin teacher. Former ANBU. Known as the Copy Ninja."

"Aburame Shino. Special Jounin, Infiltration and information gathering."

"Inuzuka Kiba. Special Jounin, Tracking and hunting."

"Hyuuga Hinata. Special Jounin, Long distance surveillance and medic Nin."

"Karin. Chuunin, Scientist and medic Nin. Also part of team Hawk."

"Deer. ANBU."

"Dove. ANBU."

McGonagall was taken aback by the swift efficiency of each introduction and puzzled by some of the terms.

"This ANBU… what exactly does that entail?" She asked Deer directly.

"ANBU is our special black ops. We are considered to be elite ninja as there is no higher ranking other than Hokage."

"We cover our faces and keep our identities a secret even from each other." Dove finished the explanation.

"I see…"

"If you are also wondering about the terms Chuunin and Jounin I can explain those to you as well." Iruka smiled at the woman.

"If you would please. I want to make sure I know as much as possible so as not to create any confusion."

"Chuunin is the level after Genin, and before Jounin. Once a Genin, the ninja is then able to take the Chuunin exams. Afterwards, the Hokage scouts for good ANBU and Jounin candidates. Some are even chosen from Chuunin level." Iruka paused for a breath. "Once a Genin graduates they are give a headband and assigned to a three man cell with a Jounin to teach them ninja life relatively safely. They take care of the D class missions such as finding missing pets and cleaning up the village. After passing the Chuunin exams…" Iruka scowled at Naruto who was muttering under his breath about 'fixed' and 'stupid'. "One is considered a leader amongst ninja. Given C and B rank missions. To become a Jounin one must be appointed by the Hokage for recognition of special skills and such. They are considered military captains and can take missions alone. They take A and S class missions. Special Jounin specialize in one area of expertise rather than all around training and are often called upon by the Jounin to help on missions."

"Very good. You have a knack for this Mr. Umino." McGonagall smiled at him.

"I teach children before they are Genin. It tends to help." He laughed.

"Alright… Before we leave I will be explaining what a portkey is. I will also cast a spell on each of you to enable you to speak English."

"I will not be requiring the spell. I can speak English fluently." Deer muttered as he slouched over.

"Neither will I." Dove crossed his arms.

Minerva looked slightly surprised but hid it well. "Will there be anyone else opting out of the language spell?"

Hinata and Sakura both raised their hands.

"Wow Sakura! I didn't know you could speak English!"

The woman blushed. "I picked it up from Hinata really."

"Cool! So yeah… what's this portkey thing you were talking about?" He turned to the teacher.

Without pausing in her spell working she pulled a small hairbrush out of her pocket.

"A portkey can be anything really. Trash, a valuable… whatever is at hand. What a portkey does is transport large amounts of people to a specified location. You have but to touch it before it activates. I've left one with your Hokage for the second team when they arrive." She whirled her wand once more and finished the language spell. "There. Now you are all properly equipped for the journey. Please gather round and place a finger on the brush." She glanced at her watch. "We shall be leaving within the minute."

The ninja's all clustered around the brush with confused looks but did as they were told. The moment the last finger touched the portkey they all felt a hook at their bellybuttons being pulled. After much tossing and turning they arrived in a shady little town.

"This is Hogsmeade. One of the only wizarding villages." She gestured at the castle in the distance. "That is Hogwarts. Please come along."

"Hey…" Naruto whined. "Why didn't you just poof us all the way?"

"Because Mr. Uzumaki there are wards on the castle to prevent such entries. There is absolutely no way to enter Hogwarts other than the gates or a secret passage way or two."

Deer walked next to the woman as they advanced towards the castle.

"Minerva-san I would request maps and information on this castle." He gestured to his team. "We will need to know the ins and outs of this place if we are to adequately protect your students."

"You're quite right Mr. Deer. When we arrive I will give you each a copy of Hogwarts: A History. As to the secret passage ways, we will have one of our students show you. I myself have not been through all of them…"

Underneath his mask Deer raised an eyebrow. "You do not know something your student does?"

"Unfortunately yes. His father and his friends created a map that shows all of Hogwarts and its inhabitants as well as secrets that most have never found. They passed on this map and we've never been able to get it from the student."

"Must be a real troublemaker…" Naruto grinned.

"Yes well… He tends to be the center of attention whether he intends it or not. He's rather shy most days and doesn't like the fame that was pushed upon him."

"He's famous?"

"He's the savior of the Wizarding world. Harry Potter."

"Wow…" The blond grinned. "So we get to meet a famous person…"

"This brings me to another point. I will need several of you to be a part of the student body of each house to protect them. Two in each house should suffice…"

"Iruka and I will stay out of that…" Kakashi smiled in her direction as he pulled out his little orange book.

"Naturally. I have hired you two on as teachers… seeing as one of you teaches the basics and the other advanced techniques, you can be Mr. Umino's Teaching Assistant for the first term."

Kakashi gaped at the woman who didn't notice as she wasn't used to looking beyond the mask. Naruto however did notice and immediately started laughing.

"Oh that's priceless! Kakashi working under Iruka-sensei!"

Sakura smirked as well. "You better not be late Kakashi-sensei. Iruka doesn't excuse tardiness. Or pornography in class."

Minerva raised an eyebrow at the little book and made to speak.

"Please do not worry McGonagall-san. I will make sure he doesn't have that around any students."

"Thank you Mr. Umino." The witch sighed in relief. She steadied herself and stopped to address the group once more before they entered the castle. "I do not want the students to know anything about you or this mission. For secrecies sake you will be foreign exchange students from Japan. Those posing as students will wait here to be taken in with the first years as they arrive seeing as you shall be sorted into the houses. Mr. Umino and Mr. Hatake will be coming with me to sit at the teachers table to be introduced to the student population as professors."

Deer slouched and tapped Dove on the shoulder. "As leader of this mission, I'm giving you orders to join the rest of the team as a student." He smirked behind his mask knowing that Dove was not pleased with him. "I will use my spare time to read up on our mission and formulate plans for when the others arrive."

Neji scowled as he removed his mask. His white eyes blazed with indignity. McGonagall almost gasped at the sight of this man. She'd never seen such a beautiful person. Handsome and pretty sure, but the pure elegance and poise he carried naturally was a rarity.

"Yes Deer-san." Neji turned to Minerva. "Hyuuga Neji." He bowed.

"Oh yes…" She stuttered before regaining her composure. "Before I forget completely… I have a set of robes for each of you. You can wear it over your current dress for now… But it is mandatory dress for students. You shall all have wands measured and ordered for you tomorrow. Just because you are not primarily wizards does not mean that you cannot learn our craft, especially if your chakra works similar to our magic."

The witch waved her wand and robes appeared in each student's hands. Every detail down to the size was perfect.

Shino stared at his robe and then at everyone else though only his teammates noticed.

"McGonagall-san, Shino needs to be more covered if you wish for us to not stand out." Hinata hedged carefully.

"Oh? Is there something the matter with the robes?"

"No ma'am. Shino's ninja abilities are the use of chakra beetles that live inside his body. He has holes in his face that need to be covered because they crawl around a lot."

Trying to hide her revulsion she simply nodded. Another wave of her wand and a scarf and gloves as well as a hooded cloak appeared. "I hope these are sufficient."

Shino merely nodded and smiled at Hinata. She smiled back knowing he meant to thank her. He wasn't ashamed of his bugs or his body, but he didn't feel the need to broadcast something that revolted others.

McGonagall got a good look at the young mans holes and shivered as he took off his jacket. She was thankful that the Seventh Years got private rooms.

"Considering that this is a school, I'm assuming that Akamaru here won't be allowed inside…" Kiba interrupted the headmaster's thoughts.

"Actually… pets are allowed… but we do ask that you keep them in your room."

"I can't leave him anywhere. He and I act as a team. If you want me to protect your students to my best ability, we will need to be together."

Minerva merely nodded. "I will allow it… But if you are asked, you're only allowed to keep him because you have different rules in Japan."

"Right. No worries there." Kiba smirked.

"Oh it's almost time…" She muttered to herself. To the others she said, "Mr. Umino and Mr. Hatake please come with me. You all shall wait for Hagrid to arrive with the first years and come in with them."

The ninjas all nodded. Shikamaru merely followed behind the headmaster like a good bodyguard.

"I will accompany you as a guard."

"So be it Mr. Deer."

The four headed into the building leaving the others on the step waiting for the first years that had just arrived on the other edge of the lake.

-

"Hey look! McGonagall's just arrived… and who the bloody hell are those people?" Ron muttered loudly, obviously not having the decency to say it quietly. The silver haired man turned to him and winked. Or at least they thought he did. It was hard to tell with his other eye covered.

As the Golden Trio watched McGonagall, the brown haired one and the silver haired one sat behind the table. The one wearing bone white armor stood off to the side at attention. A moment later the doors banged open and in walked the first years. Something was off though…

"Why are there Seventh Years mixed in with the first years?" Harry whispered.

Hermione hushed him and pointed to McGonagall who had brought out the mended Sorting Hat. It still seemed partially blackened in some areas.

"When I call your name, please take a seat on the bench. The Sorting Hat will be placed on your head and you will go to your respective table."

The First Years all nodded looking scared. Those that had siblings in the school already had been told horror stories of other houses and those who were totally new to the wizarding world were completely clueless and scared.

After the First Years had been sorted McGonagall pulled out another list and started reading from it.

"Shino Aburame."

The covered man walked up to the stool and sat, uncaring of the stares that he knew were aimed at him.

'Veeeeeery interesting…' A voice drawled in his head. 'I've not seen the likes of you before… but I see that you put your friends before yourself and work hard to protect others…'

"Hufflepuff!" The Hat yelled.

Shino walked over to the table adorned in yellow. The entire house was clapping even as they stared quizzically at him.

"Kiba Inuzuka." The witch looked to the tattooed man. The students started whispering about the giant dog that accompanied him.

He merely smirked and sat on the stool. Once the hat was on his head he almost had a panic attack at hearing the voice.

'Another interesting mind… Much bravery I see… but also foolhardy and rash. Only one place for brave fools…'

"Gryffindor!"

The table went wild. All were excited to hear the story behind the dog. Kiba noticed the Golden Trio right away. The other students seemed to sit apart from them, leaving some amount of space. He sat next to Harry and nodded to them before turning to watch the rest of the sorting.

"Sakura Haruno."

The pink haired kunoichi smiled at the whispers about her hair. Some asked about whether it was magic or not. Some wondered why she bothered trying to garner so much attention. She sat upon the stool and the hat was placed.

'Ooh… a smart one I see. Your studying habits are excellent as are your thinking patterns…'

"Ravenclaw!"

She moved to the table she'd seen others sorted into Ravenclaw go to. A pretty Chinese girl waved to her to sit down next to her.

"Hi! I'm Cho Chang!"

"Haruno Sakura." She smiled politely and turned to watch her friends be sorted.

"Karin Hawk." Karin raised an eyebrow. Sure she didn't have a last name… but surely a better one could have been come up with. She sat down and waited for the hat.

'I see many evil deeds for such a young woman… though you have changed your ways; you are still cunning and sly…'

"Slytherin!"

She stood and walked to the most noticeable person at the entire table: A tall thin blond that she found rather cute. She sat next to him and smirked at his questioning look.

"Hinata Hyuuga."

The shy woman sat on the stool and attempted to ignore the comments she could hear about her eyes.

'A desire to prove yourself worthy has been your driving factor and has inspired you to work hard. Your faithfulness to your friends is unwavering…'

"Hufflepuff!"

Hinata breathed a sigh of relief and quickly sat next to Shino who she noticed also seemed relieved.

"Neji Hyuuga." He got the same comments on his eyes as well as questions if he and Hinata were at all related. He thought it rather obvious. They had the same last name for God's sake.

'I see your true talent is putting your mind to the test as well as working towards your goals with everything you have…'

"Ravenclaw!"

Neji got up and joined Sakura at her table. She smiled gently and moved over for him to sit down.

"Sai Root." The effeminate man smiled serenely. He'd never had a last name before.

'I see that you hide behind many different smiles… You do not show your true face. Where to place you young one? Where indeed…'

"Slytherin!"

Karin pumped her fist and motioned for Sai to join her. He walked to her spot and smiled at the other occupants of the table before sitting.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

The blond resented having a name that started with U. He was almost always last. The whispers about his whisker marks made him smirk.

The hat had barely touched his head before it shouted out: "Gryffindor!"

More clapping ensued as he walked to sit with Kiba. A tinkling sound that echoed throughout the room brought all attention to the front where McGonagall was now once again seated.

"First off, welcome First Years! Please do not hesitate to ask your house members if you are ever lost. Secondly, please welcome our newest foreign exchange students as well as two new teachers. Professor Umino and Hatake will be teaching new subjects that you will learn about tomorrow. We have added extra security to the school this year to protect you all incase of any emergencies. Mr. Deer here has asked that you please do not wander the corridors after curfew. Also as always the Forbidden Forest is off limits as is anything from Zonko's or Weasley's Joke Shops. Please be advised that there is to be no dueling or magic in the hallways. There will be severe punishment for those who disobey these rules. With that out of the way, please tuck in!"

As she was about to sit the doors burst open once more and an older blond gentleman swayed unsteadily on his feet. His hair was long and in a partial ponytail falling to his lower back. The suitcase he carried with him clattered to the floor a moment before the man himself did. Immediately there were teachers surrounding him. Madam Pomfrey had conjured up a stretcher and was whisking him away before anyone could speak. The entire student body save Ron Weasely, Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto stopped eating to watch the events unfold.

"Blimey what do you reckon a muggle like him wants?" Ron muttered through the large chicken drumstick in his mouth.

"He can't be a muggle Ron. He was able to see Hogwarts after all."

"But look how he's dressed! No Wizard dresses that well in muggle clothes." Ron insisted.

"Kingsley does. It's all a matter of studying. I'm sure he's not a muggle. If you haven't read Hogwarts: A History by now… Seriously Ron."

"What's a muggle?" Naruto asked, not caring that he was interrupting a private conversation. At the strange looks he was getting he raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Non magical people… you're a wizard, you should know that…" Hermione eyed the blond suspiciously.

"Oh right! McGonagall-sensei mentioned that earlier… Uh… we use a different word for them in our language."

"Oh I see… You're Japanese yes?"

"Yes we are." Kiba joined in. "We're from Konohagakure."

"What does that mean?" The girl asked.

"Village Hidden in the Leaves… or Hidden Leaf Village… whichever you prefer I guess."

"Wow!" Ron rejoined the conversation. "What's it like at your school?"

"Well, we're only in school from age 8 to 12. Once we pass our exams we get separated into three man cells. Two boys and one girl per group. We then are trained in the profession we chose. We're allowed to take another exam at any time to move up a rank. It's all really easy." Kiba shrugged.

"See that guy with the mask over there? He's one of the highest ranked uh… wizards from our village." Naruto pointed at Deer. He noticed and sent a glare his way.

"I see. I thought he looked like an Auror." Harry nodded.

"What's that?" Naruto asked again.

Silence hit the group once more.

"A bodyguard… or an agent I guess. They help stop crime and evil wizards and whatnot." Ron explained.

"Oh! Well, in our village the lower levels deal with petty crime. His level is ANBU which is the level that deals with assassinations and such." Naruto grinned. More silence.

"Assassinations?" Harry gaped.

"Uh… yeah… you know stealthy stuff. Protect our leaders and such…" The blond fumbled for an excuse.

Kiba elbowed him hard in the ribs and laughed. "He's kidding. The ANBU are just really high leveled body guards that protect our leader and go on spying missions."

Naruto managed to turn his yelp of pain into a laugh convincing enough for the Golden Trio.

"Sounds the same as the Aurors then." Ron laughed. "What's his name?"

"Oh come on Ron! Didn't you hear Professor McGonagall? She mentioned his name. It's Mr. Deer. She said it when she mentioned added security."

The four boys looked at her like she'd grown a second head.

"Why am I the only one who listens to teachers?" She grumbled into her pudding.

"Actually, if you don't mind, please call him Deer-san. It's a term of respect in our language that doesn't quite translate…" Kiba smirked. He didn't really care, but the less agitated Shikamaru was, the less work was pushed his way.

"Yeah okay." Harry tested the word in his head. "I really wonder who the blond bloke was though…"

The rest of the table nodded in agreement.

-

Well… That's just over 11 pages. Sorry for the wait. I just had my baby… well, she was born on the 16th of July and I've been busy being a new mommy. I'm curious to see who can guess the anime I pulled the blond from… You get a cookie if you guess right. Also… I'm taking suggestions for funny/dangerous situations that will happen. I've got stuff planned out basically, but I'm always open to a good suggestion. I'm off to bed now as it's almost 5 in the morning and I need some sleep tonight. Night all!


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews guys! It means a lot to me!

Caps gets a cookie for guessing on the first try. I'm basing him on the OVA that came out recently and he looks pretty much the exact same as his dad. Oh, some slight KakashixIruka in this chapter.

Chapter 4

Minerva gazed down upon the blond man and sighed. Why couldn't things run smoothly for once? This was insane. Madam Pomfrey bustled by with a cart and immediately set to work with her wand.

"Innervate."

The blond man's eyes opened wide revealing yellow irises and blinking several times before narrowing suspiciously at the women who were standing over him.

"Where am I? Who are you?" His deep voice was scratchy with disuse and one of his glove hands immediately went to his throat. "What happened to me?"

"Poppy, see if you can't get him something to drink."

"Yes Minerva. He's dehydrated alright." She waved her wand and a flagon of pumpkin juice flew to her finger tips. The blonds' mouth dropped in shock.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

The two women each raised an eyebrow. Madam Pomfrey poured the juice into a cup and handed it to the older gentleman.

"Magic of course. You should know that if you were able to see this castle…" Minerva stood back, her hands on her hips. "This is Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

The man buried his face in his hands and started muttering.

"This is just a dream… I made it back somehow…"

Seeing the man starting to melt down Minerva felt it prudent to begin introductions.

"I am Minerva McGonagall, Headmaster and Transfigurations teacher."

The moment she said 'transfigurations' the man's head snapped up. He looked at her for a long moment before clapping his hands together sharply and energy seemed to rush through the room and compile itself in his palms.

"What country am I in?" His eyes were wild with excitement.

"This is Europe. We currently reside in the United Kingdom."

His face showed confusion; even more so when he touched his hands to his blanket and there was a flash of light. In his hands he now held a soft sweater.

"If I am not in Amestris… how the hell could I do that?" He whispered to himself in shock.

The two women stared in shock. He'd used no wand but he'd transfigured a sweater out of a blanket.

"What…" Minerva started but shook herself. "How is it possible you are able to use wandless magic without even knowing about magic?"

The man turned to her as if noticing her for the first time.

"That isn't magic. It's alchemy… Though this is the first time in about 80 years I've been able to use it on this side of the gate…"

The headmaster shook her head. She'd seen alchemy and it always involved potions and magic. Then she thought about what he'd said. Eighty years? He hardly looked over fifty.

"Who are you?" She crossed her arms.

"I am Edward Elric."

-

"This is Gryffindor tower. Being Seventh years, we now get individual rooms." Harry swept his arm in front of himself. "We're in the common room right now."

"Nice place!" Naruto grinned. He'd never stayed in a place so nice. "So explain this house system to me… Why are we all sorted into four houses?"

The Golden Trio looked at him carefully. He didn't seem to be dishonest, but so far he'd seemed like he really didn't know anything about being a wizard.

"The houses are named after the founders of this school." Hermione started. "Godric Gryffindor took the bravest under his wing. Rowena Ravenclaw the cleverest. The hardest workers went with Helga Hufflepuff and the most cunning with Salazar Slytherin."

"Yeah… the hat told me I was brave." Kiba nodded. "Was it supposed to talk in your head?"

"Bit of a surprise that?" Ron laughed. "Are you muggleborn? You don't seem used to seeing magic."

Naruto looked to Kiba and they nodded slowly.

"Yes… The magic where we're from is a little different. No wands for one thing." Naruto smirked.

"What?" Hermione fairly goggled at the two boys. "How can you do wandless magic?"

Naruto laughed at the shocked looks he was getting. He made a few signs and said, "Henge!"

A double of Hermione was staring back at her. She jumped back in alarm before steadying herself and asking questions.

"Is this an illusion? Are you really me now?" She poked the shoulder of her double.

"No illusion. This is called 'henge' and is a Ninjutsu. I look like you at the moment, though I haven't really changed."

The others crowded around him poking and prodding. He laughed it off and changed back.

"That's one of the simplest things for us. We all learn that at the academy."

"Some faster than others." Kiba smirked at Naruto's glare.

"I kicked your ass once I can do it again dog breath." He snarled and the two started bickering.

"You beat him up? Aren't you friends?" Harry crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"We're friends yeah… but that doesn't mean we don't fight."

"And that was during the exams. It's pretty safe for us to fight during the exams."

"Hey, Hinata almost died then. That one guys arms exploded… The guy that Kankuro fought died too. Not to mention all the people Gaara killed before that…"

"Gaara's gotten a lot better… He only kills to protect his village now!"

The two continued bickering oblivious to the Golden Trio's stares.

-

"Ne Iruka… What are you planning to teach these kids first?" Kakashi drawled as he leaned back into the comfy chair he was seated in. "I'd be really surprised if they could even mold their chakra at all."

Iruka smirked at the silver haired man.

"That's why you're going to be such a big help in the first few classes. You get to play kindergarten teacher for once. That means no porn, no being late, and being nice to the students. I've asked Neji-kun to come to the first few classes and monitor the students with his Byakugan to see how their magic works. If it works the same as our chakra we may be able to teach them."

Kakashi pouted. "Iruka…"

"No." The man glared at his colleague. "We will take this job as seriously as if it were the actual mission. We're also supposed to be on the lookout while teaching remember."

"Fine fine. I have one stipulation though."

"What is it?" Iruka huffed. He looked into the one visible blue eye and shivered. The look he was getting bothered him.

"Oh you'll find out soon enough. If I have to put up with snot nosed children, you get to put up with me… heh heh heh…" The former ANBU grinned lecherously.

"Kakashi-san…"

-

"You are saying that you're from an alternate universe from a country called Amestris where you were able to perform alchemy…" Minerva questioned. She wanted the story straight for when they needed to call St. Mungo's.

"Yes… I created a Philosopher's Stone inside myself to save my younger brother. When I got his body back, I came here."

The witch's eyes widened. "You created a Philosopher's stone?"

"Technically my father and brother did first. I was the last one to make one."

"Have you ever heard of Nicolas Flammel?" Minerva queried. "He was the only one ever to make a Philosopher's Stone. Seven years ago it was destroyed so that Voldemort could not use its power to return to life."

"I've never heard of him. Like I said… I didn't even know magic existed. Though I'm guessing that's why I'm able to do my alchemy here. I wasn't able to use it anywhere else on this planet." Edward rubbed his palms together and sighed. "I'd almost forgotten how it felt."

Poppy noticed a cut on his arm with a gasp.

"Why didn't you say you were injured? We are in the hospital wing sir." She held her hands on her hips. "Please remove your shirt so I can heal you."

The man raised an eyebrow but did as he was told. He predicted the gasps at his automail arm.

"What did this?" Poppy gasped as Minerva asked. "What is that?"

"This is Automail. In Amestris it's the height of physical enhancement. This planet doesn't have anything near as sophisticated."

"No I should say not." Minerva shook her head. "How did you come about losing your arm?"

The blond hung his head with a mirthless smile. "I tried to bring my mother back from the dead. I lost my leg and my brother's body in the attempt. I brought my brother's soul back into a suit of armor using my arm." He tapped his arm thoughtfully. "When I became a Philosopher's Stone I brought my brother's body back."

The two women stood awestruck at the story. They couldn't not believe in it now. The proof was in front of them.

"How did you come to Hogwarts?" The headmaster asked. "You obviously have some sort of magic otherwise you'd never have been able to see our school."

"I was backpacking as I usually do every year." The blond shrugged. "I think I fell down a cliff… it's a little fuzzy. Then I walked through that forest for days… I really don't remember much. I must have been concussed or something."

"I do believe you were. All fixed now dear." Poppy waved her wand with a smile. "Let me see that cut please."

Edward held his flesh arm out for the medi-witch and watched in fascination as the cut sealed itself.

"That's handy…" He smirked. "Too bad I hadn't had that when I lost my arm."

"We'd need a whole bottle of skele-grow to grow those back… and I'm not entirely sure we could seeing all the scar tissue that's built up." Poppy stood closer to examine. "We could attempt it if you'd like."

"No that's ok. I've had them since I was 11. My grandkids would be disappointed if I got rid of them anyway." The man smiled fondly. "Thank you for the offer though."

Minerva nodded. She still had questions but she figured they could wait until morning at the earliest.

"It is getting late now Mr. Elric. Please rest tonight and we shall see you in the morning." She inclined her head to the man and swept quietly out of the room. Poppy waved at her.

"Here's some tea dear. It'll help you get some sleep. If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call me." She waved her wand and her personal tea set flew into the room and started brewing. "Have a good sleep."

"Thank you, you as well." He smiled as he poured himself some tea. "I wonder what kind of place this is… I think I'll ask for a tour tomorrow."

He finished his tea and slid off into a comfortable sleep.

-

Not a very long chapter… but I decided to get it out there anyway. Heee… something cool is coming up. Can't wait to write it.


	5. Chapter 5

*is glomped* *falls over*

Thanks! I think I like the reaction to Edward so far! He's so awesome. And there had to be alchemy somewhere! Ah… You'll love what I do next I'm sure!

-

There was a knock at the door. Naruto rolled over and pulled his pillow over his head. The knocking on his door increased.

"I swear to god I'll skewer you on a freaking kunai…" He muttered sleepily.

The silence lasted for only a moment before the door fell with a loud slam. Two things happened simultaneously. Kiba pounced and Naruto produced fifty shadow clones in an instant. The resulting noise was enough to bring half the boys from their dorms.

"Bloody hell! How did you do that?" Ron gaped as Kiba resigned himself to stabbing each one to get rid of them. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"It wouldn't hurt unless he actually got the real me." Naruto waved from his upside down position on the ceiling. He poofed out of existence and reappeared in front of the stunned red head.

"HE APPARATED IN HOGWARTS!" The wizard pointed and stared. The rest of the boys joined him in staring.

Both Ninja's threw their hands over their ears in shock at the volume of the yell.

"Calm down dude!" Kiba shushed him. "It's just a simple relocation jutsu." The dog-nin shook his head to clear it up. "All the people from our academy can do it."

"Ya, don't make such a fuss." Naruto frowned. "Now that I'm up what the hell do you want?"

"Breakfast is in a half hour mate. Got to get down to the great hall in time to eat and get ready for class." Ron crossed his arms and nodded his head sagely.

"Oh, and there's an owl here for us Uzumaki." Kiba handed Naruto the letter he'd received from the owl. "Says we're supposed to meet McGonagall-sensei in the headmaster's office before breakfast."

The blond scrubbed his palms over his eyes and moaned.

"I suddenly miss Tsunade-baba…"

-

"Good morning Mr. Elric would you care for break- Good lord!" Poppy nearly dropped the tray she'd been holding. "What happened?" She squeaked.

Edward sat up in his cot and gave her a quizzical look. "What do you…?" He grabbed his throat in shock. "What happened to my voice?"

The medi-witch shook her head in confusion and summoned the mirror from her office. The mirror zoomed to her and she set it in front of the alchemist. She stepped back and allowed the man to see himself.

The blond stared at his reflection with shock and amazement. Staring back was a young man of about 18-19 years of age. When he moved his arm so did the reflections. His mouth turned up into a small smile.

"I think I shall see the headmaster this morning before anything else happens." He hopped off the bed and stretched his back. "Wow… that's the first time in years that I've been able to do that without hearing a cracking noise…" He muttered jovially as he made his way to the exit. He opened the door and left without a word.

"He didn't even ask where it was…"

-

"Thank you all for coming so early. I have arranged a quick trip to Diagon Alley for you to quickly pick up some supplies and your wands."

The ninjas all nodded in agreement.

"You'll be meeting with a few more of your comrades that have recently finished their missions. Please complete this task with the utmost haste as classes start in less than an hour." The woman handed an old shoe to Naruto who took it with an odd look on his face. "It's another portkey. In less than a minute it will take you to Diagon Alley. I have arranged for George Weasely to be your escort."

The moment the witch had mentioned the shoe was a portkey, the group hand instantaneously grabbed onto it. The had a moment to breath before they felt a hook behind their navels and were whisked off into the unknown.

-

"Ah! There you are Professor McGonagall." Edward nodded a greeting. The woman looked at him in shock. "It came as a complete surprise to me as well. I think my Philosopher's Stone is reacting oddly to the field of magic you have here. I can feel the over abundance of energy everywhere… it's leaking off the walls even."

She cleared her through and gestured for the blond who was now shorter than her to follow.

"Indeed this is an extraordinary circumstance…"

"Yes. I'm not quite sure how to rectify it as of yet… but I believe that given time we shall eventually work something out. I would like to offer my services as an alchemist if you need them. I certainly can't go back to my grandchildren looking like this."

Minerva glanced at the now younger man and smiled. "I have just the position open actually. If you are not averse to teaching, we may come to an agreement."

"I am at your disposal Madam." The blond grinned and bowed theatrically.

-

"Hey! You lot, over here!"

The group of ninja turned to acknowledge a redhead waving at them.

"Right. I'm George Weasely please follow me. I've got work back at my shop and would like to get this over with as soon as possible." He muttered the last part under his breath. "Follow me."

Naruto raised his eyebrow but shrugged and followed. The rest of the group complied as well.

"You look a lot like Ron." Kiba stated.

"Yes well, the little git happens to be my kid brother." George shrugged and pushed into a shop. "This is Ollivander's. Don't mind the measuring tape."

He spoke just in time to see a measuring tape come flying at the group. It flew about them taking the most random measurements from Kiba's nostrils to Sakura's bust. Once it was finished a sickly old man came into view. He rasped into his hand and nodded to George.

"Good to see you Mr. Weasely."

The redhead finally smiled and turned away. "I'll be back in a minute. Got to wait for the next lot."

The old man looked at each ninja carefully. He hid his curiosity well as he observed them. He turned back to his desk and pulled a few cases from the shelf behind it.

"You." He said clearly and pointed at Naruto. "Step forward please."

Naruto did as asked and stood in front of the desk. He noticed the cases had opened and each held a thin stick of wood on a velvet pillow.

"Take one at a time and wave it." Another rasp.

The blond grabbed the one closest to him and waved it in a circle. Nothing happened. The old man gestured to the next one and Naruto set the first down before reaching for the next. This one emitted a faint glow that pulsed red at random intervals.

"Fascinating…" Ollivander murmured under his breath. "This one next if you will." He pulled out another wand from under his desk.

Naruto held out his palm and received the wand. As he pulled the wand up through the air a shower of violent red sparks burst into the room. Naruto swore and dropped the wand. The old man was smiling now as he stooped to grab the wand.

"This is yours. Mallorn wood with a single hair from a demon fox."

The group of ninja's became suddenly silent.

"Wow…" Naruto chuckled nervously. "Where'd you get the hair?"

"I travelled the world quite often in my day." Was all he offered. "Next please."

Sakura stepped up and took a wand in hand. She waved it and flowers popped out the end. She watched in amazement.

"Tell me… how did you know to pick this particular wand?" The old man smiled kindly.

"I'm not sure. It just felt right." She stated seeming sure of her self. "I take it this one is mine."

Ollivander nodded and gestured for the next person to join him at the desk. As Hinata reached for a wand the door opened once more, measuring tape zoomed past them and Naruto jumped the person who walked in.

"Sasuke!"

-

The group exited the shop and followed the redhead into another. Their eyes were wide with amazement at some of the things the shop offered. Lights, colors and sounds were all over exaggerated and extremely flamboyant.

"Welcome to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. This is my joke shop. Please browse at your leisure. The portkey doesn't activate for another ten minutes."

The group split up and wandered aimlessly.

"So I thought you weren't due back for another week. Or so Neji said." Naruto grinned at his friend.

"I told him to say that. We were less than a day's travel away when I sent him my last letter. I arrived to find you'd just left with half our age group."

"Yeah we're under cover at a school for wizards." The blond shrugged. "It's pretty cool. Magic and stuff. Iruka-sensei and Kakashi are going to try and teach them how to control chakra."

"Good luck. Half the people in the village can't control chakra well enough to become ninja."

"Yeah well… just wait till you wear the sorting hat. It yells really loud the house you get to go in."

The dark haired ninja raised an eyebrow.

"Kiba and I are both in Gryffindor. Home of the brave. Sakura and Neji are in Ravenclaw, for being clever. Hinata and Shino are in Hufflepuff for being hardworking. Karin and Sai are both in Slytherin for being cunning. Shikamaru opted for being a bodyguard instead of going to classes like the rest of us." The blond rolled his eyes.

"Lucky him. I bet Lee gets the Huffle thing."

"Hufflepuff you ass. Yeah I can see that happening." He looked to the man with a bowl cut. "And Ino will get Slytherin… she's sneaky enough."

Sasuke smirked at his friend. "It's good to see you again."

The blond smirked back. "Sure is."

-

So… not as long as it could have been, but you've all been patient enough for this. Sorry for the wait. Being a mommy is tough.


	6. Chapter 6

Woo! Sorry for the wait I guess! Baby is just starting on solids… so the week before that I slept for less than 4 hours a night. Bleh. Not to mention we both caught the flu. Woot. Thank god for the Canadian government at times like this. Free $60 prescription just because it WAS the flu.

Yay for Sasuke being back!

"**Japanese**"

"English"

-

"Aw man… we only have ten minutes to eat?" Naruto whined.

Kiba nodded in agreement with the blonds' sentiment.

"Stop complaining you guys." Sakura shook her head as she walked over from the Ravenclaw table. "What we should be worried about is the time we don't have to prepare for classes!"

Harry and Ron gaped at the pink haired girl with astonishment. Hermione smiled and stood to introduce herself.

"I am Hermione Granger. I'm Head Girl for Gryffindor and I also help students after classes with their studies."

"Haruno Sakura." The kunoichi smiled back. "I assume we'll all be part of your after class study group seeing as we've never learned your type of magic."

By now the whole group had converged on the Gryffindor table. The boys of the Golden Trio eyed the Slytherin two with distrust.

Sai smiled sweetly at them. Karin raised an eyebrow.

"You know, we're not suddenly evil just because we got sorted into Slytherin."

"No you're just evil." Sakura sneered at the redhead.

"You love me." Karin shot back.

The two continued bickering as Sasuke, Lee, Tenten and Suigetsu joined the group.

"Ha! You guys have to go to class!" Suigetsu laughed. "Sasuke and Lee are running a class for fitness and Taijutsu strictly."

Naruto glared. "Oh yeah? And what do you get to do?"

"Top secret." Suigetsu smirked. In Japanese he said, "**I'm watching the grounds in my liquid form and Tenten here is setting traps with her weapons skills**."

Naruto nodded, somewhat placated. "It sucks you wont be with us, but at least we still get to see you during the day."

Sasuke shrugged. "**Whatever, I'm not really looking forward to teaching a bunch of lazy snot nosed kids."**

The group laughed and were given looks by the English speaking table.

"Sasuke isn't thrilled about teaching." Sakura edited as she translated. "Suigetsu is just teasing him. Oh!" She blushed. "This is Sasuke. That guy over there is Suigetsu. Lee is the guy in the vest and Tenten is the one with the buns."

Sasuke nodded to the group, Suigetsu smirked, Lee and Tenten both bowed slightly.

"I cannot wait to start our class Sasuke-kun! Teaching the next generation is the very definition of YOUTH!" Lee posed.

Ron opened his mouth to say something but Hermione slapped her hand over it.

"And we can't wait to start either!"

"That is most excellent!" Lee stuck his thumb up in the 'good guy' pose. "I will train your bodies until you feel the burn of YOUTH!!!"

The entire group of ninja's sighed.

-

Edward Elric puttered around his classroom. He hadn't been given very much time to come up with a curriculum plan or anything but he figured just going with the basics of alchemy first would be a good start. Perhaps circle drawing 101. The blond laughed to himself.

"I can't believe I'm 19 again… fucking weird." He shook his head.

Then, without realizing what he was doing, he had clapped his hands and transmuted his arm into a sword and swung it around to meet the blue and red eyes of a stranger.

"Can I help you?" He raised an eyebrow and wished he was his old height. He hadn't been shorter than another person for a long time.

The man that had seemingly appeared behind him gave the impression of smiling. His blue eye wrinkled and his cheeks rose minutely but his red eye remained open.

"Oh no, I just wanted to introduce myself." The man poofed out of reach of the sword and reappeared in one of the rows of seats. "I am Hatake Kakashi."

Ed clapped once more and retransmuted his arm back to its original shape.

"Edward Elric. And I'd appreciate you not sneaking up on me. I tend to hit first and ask questions later."

"I gathered." Kakashi replied dryly. "What exactly do you call what you did to your arm?" The silver haired man gestured to Edward's right arm.

"I'm an alchemist. That was a transmutation where I took the metal of my arm and lengthened into a sharp point. When I retransmuted I also fixed my glove and jacket sleeve." Edward smirked. "In my country I am known as the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Kakashi nodded. "Your left leg is also made of metal…" He poofed closer. "Remarkable design…"

Edward stared in shock at the black marks that moved inside the man's red iris.

"What the hell is wrong with your eye?" He exclaimed.

"That is the Sharingan. Given to me by a close friend." Kakashi shrugged but didn't elaborate.

The blond had opened his mouth to ask more but was interrupted by yet another poof of smoke.

"There you are Kakashi. Classes start in ten minutes and we're not done preparing yet!" Iruka glared daggers at the silver haired man.

"Ah… Sorry Iruka!" He quickly pulled his hitai-ate down over his red eye and smiled apologetically. "I was just talking to Edward-san here…"

"I don't care for your excuses. Get back to the class please." Iruka scowled harder.

Kakashi grinned and poofed out of the room.

"I'm sorry if he bothered you." Iruka bowed. "I am Umino Iruka."

"Edward Elric. And it was no problem at all. Mostly informative actually."

"Yes Kakashi tends to be that way." The brunet nodded. "I'm sure you also have classes to prepare for. We'll be seeing you at dinner." He smiled as be poofed away as well.

"Man that would have been so cool if I could have done that back in Amestris!"

-

"Hello ladies and gentlemen of YOUTH!" Lee gushed exuberantly. "I am Rock Lee and you may call me Lee-sensei! This is Sasuke Uchiha and-"

"You are to call me Sensei. Nothing more nothing less." He activated his Sharingan and glared at the crowd of students gathered next to the forest. "As you can see we've gathered near the forest. This is to keep damage to a minimum."

Murmurs of 'damage?' and questions thrummed through the crowd.

"We are going to be providing a demonstration of our abilities so that you will endeavor to reach your highest limits!" Lee posed.

"Keep in mind that most likely, none of you will advance to our stage of skill. We've been training since we were born." Sasuke muttered. His red eyes flickered over the crowd and he pointed at Harry. "You seem to be fairly fit. And I can tell that you have a high amount of chakra… or magic as you call it." He rolled the word like it was a bad taste in his mouth. "You will probably excel in this class."

"Please try your hardest!" The Green Beast of Konoha cut in. "We will be marking you based on your participation and effort, not skill or talent!" Lee smiled encouragingly. "Now, we will do a very quick demonstration of our skills… please let me know if you cannot see us as we've never sparred in front of non-ninja before."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"**You don't need to be so nice to them you know. You're a teacher**."

"**I prefer to encourage and foster friendship Sasuke-san**." Lee smiled kindly. "**Let us begin**!"

-

"Hello and welcome to 'Circle Drawing 101'." Edward snickered at the class before him as they looked on in confusion. "Ok, I'm kidding. This is basic alchemy."

The class started to whisper to each other excitedly. They noticed the various plants and random sheets of material at the front with new eyes.

"In this class you will learn how to transmute a variety of materials from one object to another." He eyed the class. "Now I've been told that some of you have grown up in non magical homes and took basic school classes. Have any of you ever taken a chemistry course?"

The blond noted a few raised hands and chose the girl that was practically jumping out of her seat.

"Yes Miss…?"

"Hermione Granger!" She put her hand down and pulled out a quill. "I was wondering why we didn't get textbooks for this subject sir." Her cheeks flushed.

"That is a very good question Miss Granger. The answer is that for the most part, I will be teaching you all something never before seen on this planet. Unless you count World War II. But that was all hushed up and kept under wraps."

Half the class looked confused once more.

"World War II was a war fought between most of the world… hence the name I suppose. I was 19 at the time myself." Edward almost laughed at the incredulous looks he was receiving. "I am just over 100 years old at the moment. I don't look it because of the Philosopher's Stone that I carry."

When the room went dead silent at that he looked at his class in his own confusion.

Hermione raised her hand but was beaten to speaking by Harry.

"There was only one and it was destroyed." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, I've heard something about this… Nicholas Flammel if I'm not mistaken." He sighed. "But like I said, I will be teaching you something never before seen on this planet." He clapped his hands and touched the chalk board beside him. A circle with dizzying patterns and strange markings appeared to the shocked gasps of the class. "This is a human transmutation circle. Alchemy's first and greatest taboo."

The class fell silent once more.

"In alchemy you circle your own energy in your body. The circle that you see on the board is basically the blueprints and guidelines for the energy to create what you ask it to. There are different circles for different transmutations." He clapped again and touched the board. This time it was a simple circle with only one triangle in the middle and three smaller circles inside. "This is a simple circle for most basic transmutations."

He checked the class to make sure he had their attention. A few people were jotting down notes as he spoke and he smiled.

"Basically the only rule for transmutations is equivalent exchange." He stopped and called on Hermione who was bouncing in her seat again.

"Is it similar to balancing a chemical equation? Mass, energy and friction?"

The blond nodded happily at the girl.

"Exactly that only, the energy in this case is not heat but our own 'magic' as you would call it." He crossed his arms and continued talking. "You cannot transmute an object to be bigger than it is already without additional materials. For example…"

He grabbed a vase off the desk he was sitting on and smashed it on the floor. The flowers fell about and the water splashed everywhere.

"This vase is in pieces, the water is everywhere and the flowers are dying."

He clapped his hands and held them over the vase. It reassembled with the flowers and water inside.

"Now if I wanted to add more flowers…" He grabbed some leaves off of the potted plant sitting next to the desk. Clapping his hands once more, he placed them over the vase. Two green flowers appeared. The class 'ooh'ed and 'ah'ed appropriately.

"Once you get really good you can do things like this!" He smirked as he threw some dirt on the ground and splashed water over it. He put one of the potted trees in the middle of the mess and then clapped. When the light cleared there was a small paper balloon floating in the middle of the room. He clapped again and the balloon exploded into a cascade of colorful flowers. "Your homework for tonight is to tell me what that transmutation was. What I used to create the balloon and what elements where expended when I created the flowers."

The class groaned. Edward heard a redhead at the back murmur about homework on the first day.

"And yes, you will be receiving a lot of homework from me. I got my state alchemist's license when I was 12 so I expect a lot from you all."

He smirked at the groans that came from his class and sat down.

"Tomorrow we move on to the three principles of alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone. Have a good night."

The bell rang and the class left with excited whispers about their next class.

-

Soooooooooo… I know… lame chapter. *ducks rotten fruit* But I got it out! More classes next chapter. It's 4 in the morning and I need to sleep. Hope you all liked it!


	7. Chapter 7

So… I totally looked at my stats for this fic… and I have 38 people who've favorited… and 65 people who have it on alert… WOW. Not to mention the fact that this fic has garnered more hits than any of my other stories and it's not even the longest one. WOW. I just wanted to thank everyone who's taken the time to review thus far and even those who haven't but have favorite/alerted. Thank you all!

Sorry for the wait everyone! Babies tend to make life more difficult than it needs to be.

Chapter 7

"Good morning class! I am Umino Iruka. You may call me Iruka-sensei." The brunet smiled at his class. He'd missed teaching since the first day he'd been put back on active duty. "To my left is Hatake Kakashi."

"Sensei if you please." The man droned in a bored manner. His fingers made a twitching move to his vest pocket before they dropped back to his side.

The class openly wondered at his covered face. Deciding to have a little fun, Kakashi crossed his arms and addressed the entire class once more.

"An A+ to any student who can unmask me." He smirked behind his mask at the look he received from Iruka. "Only outside of class of course."

"He's not serious. I ask that none of you even try. You will be on the receiving end of some severely bad jokes." He leveled another glare at the senior ninja just for good measure. "Now if you would please all line up and approach one by one, we will see where you need to be placed in terms of skill and chakra flow."

Kakashi rolled his eyes and pulled back his hitai-ate. He gazed lazily across the room at the students who scrambled to obey. He noticed Naruto and Kiba snickering to themselves.

"Naruto and Kiba to the front please." Iruka anticipated the boy's grumbling and smacked them across the head as they passed him. He looked to the suddenly nervous students and smiled. "Our first lesson will be pulling chakra. I must warn you that if you do not listen carefully to what I or Kakashi tells you, you may end up in the hospital wing with severe chakra depletion."

Naruto and Kiba both stood in front of the class and made a seal. Their chakra began to swirl about them, almost visible to the eye. Kakashi swept his eyes over once and stopped with a shocked curse.

Iruka looked concerned until he shook his head.

"As you can see, and maybe feel, they are gathering chakra at this very moment. The seal that they are making with their hands is called 'hitsuji' and is the first and basic hand sign that you will need to know."

The brunet turned to the chalk board behind him and began writing.

"When you go back to your seats, please write these down and copy the drawing as good as you possibly can. You will need to be able to do these."

He started with 'hitsuji' which was hands placed together, pointers and middle fingers pointed up with rings and pinkies curled. The right hand was slightly lower than the left. He moved directly onto 'i'. Hands palm together, fingers down and curled at the knuckle. 'Mi' was hands clasped. 'Ne' was the 'hitsuji' sign with the hands reversed.

"For now, these four will be all you need to know."

Naruto and Kiba stopped focusing their chakra and flashed through the seals. Naruto laughed openly at the jaws that dropped.

"I don't expect you to be able to do hand seals as fast as either of them. Do not expect it of yourselves either. Both these men have trained since they were very young."

"And there are people who can do them faster so don't think we're amazing either." Naruto flashed a grin.

Iruka smiled at his student. He'd really matured if he wasn't trying to brag and be the best.

"For now, please make the 'hitsuji'."

The students all did the sign and waited for more instructions.

"One at a time step forward in front of Kakashi please." Iruka gestured for Hermione to start.

She looked nervous but did as she was told.

"Now… when you do spells, you feel your magic inside of you yes?" The man prompted.

"Yes Iruka-sensei."

"Think of that feeling but instead of concentrating on a spell, just feel the flow and direction of the magic." He glanced at the class behind her. "You may all attempt this now as well."

Hermione bit her lip but nodded to the teacher. "I can feel it… almost like a tide. Ebbing and flowing."

"Good. That means you will be able to do this exercise."

Hermione blushed happily.

"Now I want you to visualize this energy and feel it as you do. You can give it a color if you wish."

"A green almost like grass…" She murmured as her eyes slipped closed. "It's very warm."

"Excellent. Now pull. Gently."

The girl's eyes shot open as she felt the hem of her robe stir about her feet. Her hair was moving slightly as well.

"Very good. Kakashi?"

"She's got excellent control… But not much to work with. I'll refer her to Sakura."

Kakashi placed a small square of paper between her fingers and waited while she kept her chakra about her. The paper became soggy and fell limply to the floor.

"Water."

Iruka nodded and jotted a quick note on his notebook. "Alright. Thank you Miss…"

"Hermione Granger."

"Miss Granger. You may return to your seat now."

-

Sasuke rubbed his cheek absently as he watched Lee run laps around a large field. They stayed on the inside of the rather tall and large stands. He assumed that they could somehow fly if they needed seats so high. He'd placed a slight Genjutsu over himself so that his students didn't see the small bruise that was rapidly darkening on his cheek. Lee certainly didn't pull his punches. They'd ended their little demonstration in a tie so as not to usurp each other's tenuous authority over the students. But he'd still taken more damage than Lee had. Maybe Taijutsu training was a good thing. He'd focused far too much on his Ninjutsu and Genjutsu since he'd defected from Konoha.

His dark eyes trailed after the students lagging behind. They seemed to think that they had the luxury of socializing during training. Ha.

Even barely at his top speed he still seemed to materialize in front of the girls who were all but stopped.

"You seem to think that this exercise does not apply to you." He narrowed his eyes at the group of girls.

"Oh! Sasuke-sensei!" The one with a pinched face exclaimed. "We uh… we were…"

"I believe I informed you at the beginning of this lesson that you were to refer to me as Sensei." His glare intensified. "Four more laps for each of you." He flashed back to his original spot and waited for the rest of the class with Lee who'd already run double his self imposed laps.

"That girl will be receiving a bad mark." His eyes dared Lee to argue.

"I think I agree." The man sighed. "Some people just do not understand the beauty of hard work."

Some of the tension left Sasuke's shoulders. "I think we should keep an eye on that Malfoy kid. He doesn't seem very physically fit. On the other hand, Longbottom seems to be doing fairly well."

Lee simply nodded.

-

Okay… so that was part of Iruka's class and more of Sasuke's and Lee's. I know its short… but better that than no update at all! Yes? Again, thank you all for your kind words. They're really what make me want to write more. And please ignore any typos. My keyboard is running out of batteries… and I can't seem to find any. Half the keys I hit don't register. So it takes extra long for me to write a chapter.

Also… if anyone has any suggestions as to scenes they would like to see, let me know! If it doesn't work against my plot, I shall endeavor to add it in.

And last but not least… I'm so glad that you all approve of Edward! I intend to have some more fun at his expense… and please remember that he's lived a full adult life and everything. So his personality is a little different from what it used to be. Older and a little more mature. Knowing Ed, it's not all that much.

Shinimegami7


	8. Chapter 8

Wow! Five reviews for the last chapter within three days? I'm so impressed! And happy. It's really motivated me to write faster! I wasn't going to pick it up for another week since I'll be pretty busy this week… but I shall endeavor to put this up as soon as possible. Here's the new chapter!

Chapter 8

Iruka watched the last of his students file out the door. He waved to the last one as he turned to face his silver haired superior.

"So what was that swearing all about?" He fixed the man with a steady gaze.

"Oh… I was hoping you'd forget." The man chuckled almost nervously.

"Even if it wasn't Naruto you were worried about, I'd have asked anyway." Iruka crossed his arms.

"I knew you loved me." Kakashi smirked at the blush that stained the teacher's cheeks.

"Kakashi!"

Mission 'divert the conversation' successful. The silver haired man's smirk disappeared when Iruka's hand connected lightly with his head.

"Keep your secret for now Kakashi. But don't think you're saved from telling me eventually. If it worsens you better damn well tell me." The brunet huffed as he gathered his notes and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Damn…"

-

Neji looked around himself and halfheartedly sighed. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten here but he was pretty damned sure he didn't want to be here. He'd been going down a staircase on the way to Iruka-sensei's class when it suddenly shifted and he'd been unable to teleport himself off of it. He'd kept walking because for some reason he felt that he should and he'd happened upon a rather peculiar tower room. It was so full of incense that he almost couldn't discern the poufy chairs and tables around the room. He did however notice the person sitting in the chair in the middle of the room. Her breathing was heavy and she seemed not to notice him even though he was right in front of her.

He stepped closer and activated his Byakugan. Whorls of energy came from her and pulsated with her heart beat. He looked deeper and noticed an odd point just between her eyes. It seemed to glow with a blue energy; gently flickering and almost dying out. He'd been examining the point so closely that he was ill prepared for what happened next.

"THE SLEEPING CURSE SHALL WAKE AND THE ONE WHO IS NOT THE DARK LORD SHALL RISE. THE GATE LIES SHUT. THE SNAKE LIVES. AS THE SNOW LEAVES THE GROUND THE EVIL WILL MAKE KNOWN IT'S PRESENSE. BEWARE THE DEMON'S WHO'S EYES BURN RED. THE WHITE SHALL OVERCOME THE RED."

Neji had put his arms up to shield himself incase the woman had decided to attack but as soon as she finished speaking her eyes had focused on him. She gave him a startled look and fidgeted with her blanket.

"Can I help you?" Her eyes blinked up at him beadily through her glasses.

"No… I had a feeling I needed to be here… I must be leaving." The brunet turned and disappeared in a cloud of smoke without as much as another word.

"How did he do that?" The woman frantically pulled her many shawls about her shoulders and ran quickly to her ladder. She scurried down the ladder and ran to the headmaster's office.

-

"Iruka-sensei!" Neji exclaimed as he caught sight of him. "I apologize for not coming to your lesson. The staircase moved while I was on my way."

"Oh, don't worry about it Neji. We managed." Iruka gave the man a kind smile.

"Yeah, sure. Believe HIM." Kakashi sniffed disdainfully.

Iruka glared at the Jounin. "I believe him because he's made a habit of telling the truth unlike some Jounin that I could mention."

"Have you seen Naruto? The real one I mean. His clones are everywhere." Neji interrupted Kakashi's reply.

"Can't you use your Byakugan?" The Jounin drawled lazily.

"If I could see through more than half the walls here, I would. Most walls are so full of chakra that I cannot see through them." The white eyed man glared at Kakashi.

"Yes, he just left my last class. I do believe it is lunch time. He should be eating with his house."

"Thank you Iruka-sensei." He bowed swiftly and left just as fast.

"You DO know he's boning Naruto don't you?" Kakashi smirked at the blush that spread across Iruka's cheeks. "Okay, I take it you really didn't. Wow."

The brunet sputtered indignantly.

-

"It was so amazing!" Hermione gushed to Sakura as she sat down next to her. A few Gryffindors whined about other houses sitting with them but were shut up with a glare from the two girls.

"I take it your first lesson in chakra control went well. Kakashi-sensei told me you had excellent control." Sakura beamed at the bushy haired girl which earned her a profuse blush.

"Yes… I am apparently a water chakra user…"

"Very nice. So, the reason he's referring you to me is that we're the same chakra types as well as the same control types."

The witch looked to her new friend in confusion. Sakura sighed softly as she pulled out a scroll. She opened it and spread it out across the table.

"You may want to write notes." The pink haired woman smiled. She looked up as she noticed Naruto's excited chakra drawing closer.

"Hey Sakura!" Naruto called as he ran into the great hall. "You wouldn't believe what I just saw!" He skidded to a stop right in front of her and almost plowing into the young blond alchemy teacher who was only trying to walk and read at the same time. "Suits of armor with nothing in them! They were watching me!"

Edward stopped in his tracks and looked up from his book into the clear blue eyes of one Naruto Uzumaki.

"Do I know you?" Naruto looked puzzled.

"Al?" The teacher raised an eyebrow.

The two blonds stared at each other unblinkingly.

"Uh…" Naruto scratched his head carefully. "I'm Naruto."

The blond teacher shook his head vigorously. "Sorry about that. Edward Elric, Alchemy teacher."

The two shook hands and shared another strange look. Naruto turned his head just in time to see Neji jog into the room.

"Oi! Neji!" He used the hand not holding Ed's to wave at his lover. "Come eat with us!"

The brunet snorted with amusement. His blond was such a… well… a blond.

"I will. I needed you to come with me to the Headmaster's office first."

The blond raised an eyebrow but didn't question his lover. He released the other blond and took off after Neji.

-

"What was that all about Neji?" Naruto whined. "I'm hungry."

"Yes well, I'm sure you'd prefer to know about some creepy bug lady was making predictions about the Kyuubi."

Naruto's laughing eyes went dead serious. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you when we find McGonagall-sensei. I don't want to have to repeat myself."

"Okay, let's hurry."

-

Uh… wrote this pretty quickly. Just moving right along I guess. Oh, and yes, Trelawney is creepy.

Thanks again all you reviewers! I love you all to pieces. I'm hoping to get a little more Neji and Naruto screen time… We'll see. Remember, still taking suggestions and such.


	9. Chapter 9

So… I got my first flame ever! WOW. I was waiting for it. But… I'd rather hoped it would be about my writing, not subject matter.

"i really dont know why u think gay is cool then u r a retard ok if it was up to me anyone who was a gay should go die in hole full of donkey shit" – naruto7332

Well… First off, I'd love to congratulate him on his amazing grammar. I've never seen anything better. I'm pretty sure my 6 year old nephew has better spelling and grammar. Secondly, I'd like to thank yet another closed minded jerk. This person is an author on . If you have anything to say back to him, please, go ahead and leave him a nice message. I'm kind of hoping you all spam him to death… but if not, I still have my revenge right here.

REPORTED FOR ABUSE.

I know I'm not the best, but really… To insult my choice and opinion as a person… Whatever. I guess not everyone is as comfortable in their own skin as I am. And for that, I feel sorry for him.

Okay. I'm done venting now. I kind of laughed when I first got this message. I hope you all get a good laugh too. On to the next chapter!

Chapter 9

"You mean to tell me that she had ANOTHER premonition?" McGonagall sighed. "She's a crackpot for anything except when it comes to something that seriously involves the entire wizarding world."

"Wait… you mean she's not crazy?" Naruto crossed his arms in annoyance. "What's all this supposed to mean anyway? I don't get it."

"I'm not sure exactly…" She replied through the hands over her face. "The one who is not the dark lord… that could be anything…"

"If I may interrupt…" Neji stepped forward with one hand on Naruto's shoulder. "We have experience with a snake."

Naruto's head snapped around and his eyes narrowed.

"Guess we need Sasuke for this one eh?" He chuckled mirthlessly.

"Yes. I think we will." The brunet nodded.

"What is going on?" The headmaster leaned forward over her desk. "What do you mean?"

"One of the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, could summon snakes and use many of their abilities. Shortly after Sasuke became a genin, he defected from our village and joined him. We spent many years trying to get him back and he finally came back on his own after he'd killed Orochimaru." Neji paused to take a breath. "Orochimaru attempted to take over Sasuke's body with his immortality jutsu but was unable to best him. Sasuke absorbed enough of his body to gain some of his powers… But Orochimaru is considered dead."

McGonagall rubbed her temples harshly.

"This is all starting to sound like Horcrux business again…" She sighed wearily. "We're going to need our resident experts…"

"Who're they?" Naruto suddenly perked up.

"Harry, Hermione, and Ronald spent all of last year tracking down Voldemort's Horcruxs and destroying them. I'll let them tell you the story of course… And maybe we should continue this conversation after classes. If you will join me for dinner in the kitchens we shall discuss this then."

The two ninja nodded and poofed out of the room and the woman stared at the spot they had been in.

"How do they do that?"

-

Shikamaru massaged his temples lightly under his mask as well as he could while he sighed for the millionth time. He'd been reading up on the magical history of the school they currently resided in and was not entirely pleased with what he was finding. This 'Voldemort' person sounded an awful lot like Orochimaru and was causing his left eye to twitch slightly.

The masked Nin closed 'Hogwarts: A History' with a light thump. "This is so troublesome." He muttered under his breath and went in search of the nearest Naruto clone. Once he found one he said, "Hey, make another clone. I need to get a message to Naruto quickly."

The clone nodded and made a quick seal. The new clone looked at Shikamaru intently.

"I'm in the library. We have a few things to discuss, namely Orochimaru and Sasuke. Get your ass here pronto and bring whoever you can find."

The clone smirked and poofed out of existence. Shikamaru felt a small surge of chakra indicating he'd been understood loud and clear.

He settled back down at the table and crossed his arms. This mission had started out as tedious. It had now progressed to a full fledged 'troublesome'.

-

Naruto paused in his food shoveling for a few seconds. No one at the table aside from his fellow ninja noticed anything amiss.

"What is it Naruto?" Neji prodded his lover casually. The other Nin looked at him.

"Deer wants us in the library…" He looked sadly at his barely touched lunch.

Sakura huffed. "We're going to be late to our next class!"

Naruto and Kiba grinned at each other and proceeded to lay waste to their food.

Ron looked puzzled for a minute but then spoke. "You mean that bloke with the mask?"

The group of Nin all stared at Ron before nodding.

"Yes. He's our leader here basically. While we're away from home, he's in charge. Even over Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei." Hinata murmured. "We'll be as quick as we can."

Hermione looked like she was about to ask more questions when they all disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"See? I TOLD YOU!" Ron and Harry both exclaimed to Hermione's shocked face.

"How did they do that?" She fairly squeaked.

-

Edward shuffled the papers in his hand and set them in an orderly stack next to a well of ink. A clap of his hands and a touch to the papers had the whole stack sporting a simple transmutation circle. He reshuffled them and set them aside for his next class. In the middle of making another stack he heard a tapping noise at his door. He opened the door to an irate looking owl with a rumpled paper in its beak. It dropped the paper and hooted angrily as it took flight back down the hallway.

"The hell?" Ed scratched his head and watched the owl disappear. He picked up the paper and closed the door. As he walked back to his desk he opened the paper to find a hastily scrawled note.

"Mr. Elric, please join me in the kitchens for dinner. We have a few things to discuss." The blond read out loud. "From McGonagall? Okay I guess…" He shoved the note into his coat pocket and looked at his watch. Lunch was almost over. He had a few more classes and then he was free for supper.

"I wonder what it's about." He murmured as he sat down. The bell sounded throughout the castle and with it soon came the voices of many students. Outside his door there was suddenly a loud bang and a lot of screaming. His door flew back and several frightened students ran in to hide under the desks.

"What the hell is going on?" He yelled to one of the cowering students as he ran to the door to investigate for himself.

"It's Slytherin! They're attacking us!" Screamed one of the girls from Gryffindor.

Edward scowled. He clapped his hands as he reached the door and slammed them into the ground. Stone arms shot from the walls and encased every single person left in the hallway. He walked among the shocked faces of his pupils and stared each one in the eye.

"So what's going on? Do I have to threaten with detentions? I'd have thought you seventh and eighth years would be old enough to know better." He crossed his arms.

"They started spouting pro-Voldemort shit and we just told them off. Then they tried to hex us!" Harry seethed as he tried to get out of the stone surrounding him. It was tight enough that his wand was pointed right at his own foot.

"I see." He dropped one arm to his side and the other rested on his hip. "So who started it?" He looked at the Slytherin students. "Come on, don't be shy."

The entire Slytherin group dropped their gazes away from each other and to the floor. Their lips were sealed tight.

"So no one's talking? That's okay. You can all stay in there until someone does." The blond smirked as he walked back into his class and shut the door.

-

So… the first sign of actual trouble! Sorry it's so short again… but I think this is the length I'll be able to write about once every week or so. Hopefully. No promises really. Hope you all liked it! And if you're going to flame me… ha. Go right ahead. Just make sure it's about my crappy writing and not my subject matter. Thanks.

Shinimegami7


	10. Chapter 10

Woo hoo! Look at all those reviews! I'm honored that you like the story enough to review!

First off, I went back and read the previous chapters and noticed a random hole. Or two. No one's said anything yet… but I'll tell you now. I mentioned Ino once and never followed up. She isn't at Hogwarts but should be along eventually. And Lee used the word ninja once. I'd go back and change it… but I think we can pretend he never said it. As of right now, no one knows that they are ninja. Also… I messed up a bit with the grammar and spelling of the prophecy. It's fixed in this chapter and the meaning hasn't changed.

Sorry Yomi-chan! I mentioned in one of the first chapters that Sakura wasn't in love with Sasuke anymore… Though I don't really have a plan for Sasuke or Sakura… We'll see?

Kari Suttle… Your review made me tingle all over. Thank you for being honest on your opinion of Ed. I do realize it seems random… but you'll see soon I guess. And thank you for the praise of my depth. I find it really hard to believe that someone as smart and educated as McGonagall (or any of the teachers for that matter) would EVER underestimate anyone. Also, she's very fond of her students and knows most of them very well. She understands what the war was doing to everyone and recognizes that the Ninja have seen far more than her students ever will.

Soraya my faithful reviewer… Much love! I really did laugh at that flame. And then I wanted revenge. -ALittleDifferentFromTheRest- helped me with the revenge part. Thank you dear! Also, yes, this chapter deals with Deer.

And finally… thank you everyone else for your support! Hopefully this chapter advances the plot a little?

"**Japanese"**

"English"

Chapter 10

The large group of ninja sat themselves around a table and attempted to keep the librarian's eyes off of them. She scowled at them for a moment but decided that they weren't making much noise and went back to her sorting.

"First off, we are in a library, keep your voices down." Deer looked right at Naruto who scowled back. "Second, we are discussing strategy so we will be speaking Japanese only."

The others nodded and sat back to watch their leader. He pulled out a scroll and set it in the middle of the table.

"**There have been a few things that were not explained in full depth. One of which is the wizard Voldemort that most of the magical world refers to as the 'Dark Lord'. He is considered dead now, but he was also considered dead seven years ago when he restarted his ascent to power."**

Neji cleared his throat and continued for Shikamaru. **"We've also had some new developments Deer-san." **The ANBU raised his eyebrow but gestured for Neji to continue. **"A Seer by the name of Trelawney has had a premonition… and apparently that last serious one she made came true."**

Sakura stood with her hands on her hips. **"I've heard about this Trelawney… she's a complete fraud."**

"**While I would normally agree with you Haruno-san, I was there when she made the prediction. Naruto and I have both spoken to McGonagall-sensei and she seems to believe the woman."**

This had Sakura stunned. **"We are to meet with McGonagall-sensei this evening after classes during supper to discuss the situation further."**

Shikamaru rubbed his temples roughly.

"**Before we speak with her, we need to hear the prophecy ourselves and determine what we can and cannot tell her."**

Neji barely spared the ANBU a glance. **"The sleeping curse shall wake and the one who is not the Dark Lord shall rise. The Gate lies shut. The snake lives. As the snow leaves the ground the evil will make known its presence. Beware the demons whose eyes burn red. The white shall overcome the red."**

Karin snorted loudly before bursting into laughter. **"Well, one thing is for sure. It's not talking about just the Kyuubi. It's a good thing I came on this mission. You'll need an expert on the curse marks I think."**

Sasuke glared at the redhead who only smiled coyly at him before flipping her hair.

"**Unless of course the magic users are aware of some other random curse."**

The man glared even harder.

"**At least we have till winter is over?" **Kiba tried to reason with the team.

"**Alright. With that scant amount of information… There is not much to discuss at this point, however, you may not speak to McGonagall-sensei about the Kyuubi or the Curse Mark. Understood?"**

At the nods he received he sighed.

"You're all dis-"

The warning bell sounded for the next class to begin. Shikamaru muttered a 'troublesome' before addressing his team once more.

"You're all dismissed."

-

Naruto, Kiba, Sai and Karin walked leisurely down the corridor to their next class. It was supposed to be Alchemy. They were surprised to see a bunch of their housemates trapped in large hands that looked like they grew quickly from the wall. Even more surprising was the shouting coming from the people who were trapped.

"What happened here Potter?" Naruto asked as he examined the stone hands. The other three busied themselves looking for potential traps.

"Professor Elric trapped us all in these hands a moment ago. Those Slytherin idiots were attacking us in plain sight." Harry growled.

Naruto looked at Sai. He had an almost puzzled expression on his face. Naruto winked at him out of the corner of his eye and the artist smirked back.

"Fucking Slytherin. Keep your friends off our backs Sai!" Naruto shouted at his teammate, giving him a little shove. He reached out a hand to the wall confining Harry and crushed it under his fingers.

Sai merely smiled as he painted a lion that came to life crunching the stone between its jaws. After a minute both sides were free of the wall.

"Try not to be too weak Uzumaki. It might lead people to believe you have no penis."

Naruto slammed the black haired Nin into the wall and punched next to his head. The stone shattered and showered the audience with small stones and fine dust.

"Next time it's your head." The blond sneered cheerfully as he pulled a confused Kiba after him into the classroom muttering about 'penis jokes'.

-

Edward looked up as the students he'd left outside plus a few more trailed into the room.

"I trust you've sorted your differences?" He asked with an unreadable expression on his face. The people who had just entered all nodded.

"Good. Now, time for class!" The blond stood from his desk and started handing out the transmutation circles he'd made earlier. "I have some circles for you to use until you're good enough to draw your own… and please look to the black board for information on the three steps of alchemy."

The entire class looked to the front curiously. A few still glared at each other but no fights were breaking out.

"The three steps are as follows. Understanding, Decomposition, and Reconstruction. The first is the most important." Ed made sure his class was focused on him as he removed his jacket and gloves. He removed his shirt as well and rolled his left pant leg up to his knee. "If you do not understand the transmutation you are about to make, do not have the correct materials, or are attempting human transmutation… This is what will happen to you. Or worse."

The classes horrified whispers died slowly. Naruto gulped slightly. Even in his line of work, most people didn't have major damage to their body. At the worst, the person didn't survive the enemy long enough to complain the lack of a limb.

"I was ten years old, my brother nine when we attempted to bring our dead mother back. My formula was perfect, the ingredients where there, but the transmutation stole my leg and his body. I sacrificed my arm to bring his soul back to attach to a suit of armour."

He took in the silence of the class and sighed.

"I took the pain of automail and became a state alchemist at the age of twelve."

A boy in the back commented in a sarcastic voice. "And how does this even relate to our class? Boring."

Edward laughed out loud. "Well, if it's so boring, you can leave. I don't care what you do with your time, but if you are in my class then you will follow my rules and work your ass off."

Sai raised his hand. Ed looked at the Slytherin with some curiosity. "Yes?"

"I am called Sai and I also wish to inquire on why you wished to tell us your life story. It does not benefit you in anyway."

Stunned, the only thing Edward could do was laugh some more. This time though Naruto spoke up without raising his hand.

"It's so that we see the consequences of not listening to his lessons. Duh."

Kiba stared open mouthed at the blond next to him. So did most of his class.

"Thank you…" Ed glanced to his roster and quickly pulled the name he needed. "Mr. Uzumaki. Yes, that is precisely why I had to show you my automail. Learn from mistakes before you. It is the only way for humans to avoid making the same ones… and usually worse." He shook his head roughly. "Back to the lesson. Decomposition is the next step. Can anyone tell me what it means?"

Hermione bounced in her seat with her hand in the air.

-

Throughout the corridor a loud gurgling growl could be heard. It was so loud that it almost shook the walls. Naruto placed a hand over his stomach and sighed.

"We really have to miss supper to talk to the client? I'm starved here!" He complained.

"Shut it Naruto." Sakura and Sasuke both replied.

"Aw… You guys are mean. What happened to team- HOLY SHIT A GREMLIN?"

The blond jumped back into a crouch and pulled a kunai out just in case the little monster tried to attack him.

"I is sorry sirs and madams for scaring yous. I is being Winky. If you is hungry please be following me to the kitchens." It bowed and scurried off.

"I'm not the only one who saw that right?" Naruto commented drily to his friends.

"Nope. That was fucked up." Suigetsu shook his head.

Sakura huffed and held her hands in fists on her hips. "Let's just follow it. It said that we were going to the kitchens… That's where we're supposed to meet McGonagall-sensei to talk." She reasoned.

"Right. We follow the munchkin." Kiba got on Akamaru's back and let him sniff out the trail to the creature.

Winky had stopped at a picture of a bowl of fruit. She floated up to the picture and tickled the pear. It started giggling and the entire picture frame swung open. The ninja had all sprung back in case of an attack but followed the tiny creature once it went into the newly opened room.

"I is bringing the guests mistress." With a low bow the creature disappeared with a crack.

McGonagall looked at the astonished faces of her new guests and gestured for them to find seats for themselves with a wry chuckle.

"That was Winky. She's a house elf. They work here cooking and cleaning."

"Oh… so not a gremlin, gotchya." Naruto mused. He looked around the kitchen and noticed many more house elves running around. One wandered up to him with a platter held over its head that completely obscured the tiny figure beneath it.

"For the hungry masters and mistresses." It squeaked.

"Oh hey, thanks!" Naruto grinned as he removed the tray and put it on the table for everyone to grab from.

"One word of caution with the house elves… please do not attempt to give them clothing of any sort… they will be most offended if you do." The tired woman smiled gently at the small elf who refilled her tea. "Thank you."

At the looks of confusion she finally elaborated. "When a house elf under a magical contract with someone is given a piece of clothing by that person, they are considered free. They do not like to be without work and take much pride serving wizards."

"Most of them are like that." Harry said as he walked into the room via the painting. Ron and Hermione both followed. "Dobby was different. He disobeyed his master and punished himself greatly for it to save my life."

Hermione nodded but was busy talking to the house elves, asking them about their current workload and breaks. Most ignored her. Others gave her scathing looks and went about their business.

"Oh poor dears…" She murmured.

Harry shook his head with a sigh. "I tricked his previous owner into freeing him and he came here to work for…" He stumbled slightly with his words. "He came here and worked for money and had holidays. The other elves hated him for dishonouring his contract as a house elf and they didn't get a long so well."

"Thank you Potter, Granger and Weasely for joining us. Trelawney has had another prophecy."

-

Muahahahahaha. That's about 6 pages there. Longer than it usually is. I thought I'd pump this out and wish everyone a happy Valentines Day. Also… Happy Single's Awareness Day. I'm so glad I get to celebrate Valentines Day now.

Hope you all enjoyed it, and if you're Albertan, happy Family Day!


	11. Chapter 11

Woo! It's been a little more of a wait than the last few chapters… sorry about that! Baby just got her first tooth on Valentines Day and then she got sick this week… So zero sleep for me and a whiny baby during the day. Also… another review that I have problems with… *sigh*

not that i have anything against slashyaoi, but its not preferable for me, thats why you should at least give a warning in the summary, and rate your ff M please, my little brother asked too many question about it... – from anonymous.

I now have a yaoi warning in the summary (thanks for reminding me because I'd totally forgotten that). There IS a warning on the first page… but I refuse to up the rating just because there is a gay couple (or two) in the story. I do not plan on having any of the characters in the story have sex or anything more than a small kiss. I also think that maybe people should restrict their child's site access to something with a little less dangerous content on it. If they're reading whatever they want, they're obviously going to do just that and ignore any warnings that I may have put. Also… if they don't know enough about the world that they have to ask you uncomfortable questions, maybe they shouldn't be on the internet at all. Funny story… I found my younger sister googling 'lesbians' once. She was 10 I think at the time. I explained to her that if she had questions like that, the best thing to do would be to ask her mom or me about it because the internet can have scary pictures. Simple, easy, and she didn't feel stupid for having done it.

Replies to reviews are at the bottom guys, enjoy!

Chapter 11

Harry, Ron and Hermione all stared at their headmaster in shock.

"Again? To who? About who?" Harry demanded.

"Patience Potter." She admonished gently. She brought attention to what looked like a stone bowl sitting on the table next to her. "This is a pensieve. Mr. Hyuuga, please step forward." The brunet gave her a look but did as he was told. "I am merely going to remove the memory of the prophecy and place it in here so that everyone may witness it as it was."

The ninja's looked to each other almost in alarm.

"I'd rather you not tamper with my memories." Neji stated firmly.

The wizards and witches in attendance huffed in annoyance. "It's painless really. And as long as you think only of the memory I need, that's all I will get." The elder witch replied.

"It sounds fishy to me." Naruto sniffed. The other ninja nodded around him.

"What smells fishy?" Came a voice from the painting as it swung open. Edward smiled in greeting. "Sorry I'm a little late. I was fixing the walls outside my classroom."

McGonagall raised an eyebrow requesting elaboration. "Some of the students started fighting in the halls. I shut them up for a bit." Was all he said. "Now, what's this about?"

"I was just explaining to Mr. Hyuuga the importance of his memory to our meeting as well as the process." She turned to the brunet. "If you would like a demonstration then I will be most happy to oblige."

"That would be acceptable." The woman nodded and thought for a moment. She placed her wand at her temple and when she pulled it away it came with a silvery wisp that was almost mistaken for her hair. "This is a memory." She placed it into the bowl of the pensieve and swirled it around with her wand. "I warn you, it is not a completely pleasant memory, but it is powerful. If you are sensitive you may experience some of the emotion of this memory. I also believe it will help you understand our world a little better."

Edward leaned forward curiously towards the bowl. Harry reached out to stop him but was too late. As his bangs accidentally hit the surface of the memory he was sucked into the bowl. The boy savior sighed.

"Well go after him professor." Harry nodded to his friends and they all touched a finger into the memory.

"Wow. Now that is cool." Naruto laughed.

"Yes… quite. Please remember that this is a memory, nothing you do or say will change the course of it, and nothing inside it can hurt you." At the nods she received she gestured for them to touch the memory. They all did so and were whisked away into a whiteout.

-

"Ugh… Professor, did you have to choose this memory?" Harry complained as he watched himself be carried by Hagrid into the silent clearing in front of the school. The events of Harry's defeat of the Dark Lord unfolded around the ninja. They watched him gloat over the death of Harry and then his attempted torture of Neville.

"So that's why the hat was burnt…" Kiba murmured.

"Shhh!" Sakura shushed him. Naruto stared intently at the snake like man. A faraway look glazed over his eyes. Neji came up beside him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Sasuke watched out of the corner of his eye before flickering back to the 'dark lord'.

"Tom Riddle, known to the entire wizarding world as Lord Voldemort, just announced that he had killed me." Harry pointed at the 'dark lord'. "He had actually… but what really died was the piece of his soul that had accidentally anchored itself to me when he first tried to kill me as an infant. That is called a Horcrux." His eyes narrowed as he watched the 'dark lord' attempt to harm his friends. "The reason none of his spells were able to work properly on them is because I willingly sacrificed myself. It's ancient magic so old that most don't even know about it. My mother used it to save my life when she was killed. When I allowed myself to be killed my love for my friends became the barrier to protect them. The only reason I survived is because of love."

The blond ninja looked to the man they had recently considered a boy and slightly bowed his head. The silence lasted until they watched Fred fall to the floor with a smile on his face. Ron turned his face away while Naruto watched with pain in his eyes. Now he knew why George had been so surly with everyone. The pain he had to have felt from losing a twin would have killed most. They saw a plump red headed woman run across the room to duel a tall and skinny wraith-like woman. The spells that were hurled back and forth amazed the ninja. They stared in wonder at the magic being cast.

"That woman seems to be using a green spell rather often…" Lee commented. "I'm assuming it's a rather dangerous spell."

"Yes… that colour of emerald green is indicative of the Avada Kedavra spell. It is the killing curse and one of the three Forbidden Curses." Hermione muttered from behind her hands. The ninja noticed several tears fall from behind her cover.

"I see. So… dodge if we see that colour." Kiba joked.

"If you ever see that colour coming at you, it's likely to be the last colour you ever see." McGonagall replied.

"I guess you've never seen a demonstration of our speed then..." Kakashi smirked.

At last the wraith-like woman fell to the ground a look of shock on her once pretty face. The ninja heard a muttered 'bitch' come from Ron and assumed that had been his mother to defeat the skinny woman.

McGonagall gave Kakashi an appraising look. "If you'll consent to a demonstration tomorrow after dinner on the Quidditch pitch then we shall see if you are indeed capable of dodging spells." Kakashi grinned at the woman though she couldn't tell because of his mask.

"But of course."

The memory started getting blurry and when McGonagall started blushing they all knew why. She'd been in tears for this part. The aftermath of the greatest battle ever to take the wizarding world in it's grasp. The edges of the memory world started to whiten and suddenly they were back in the kitchen like nothing had ever happened.

"Wow that was neat..." Naruto enthused and Edward nodded with a bemused expression on his face. "So you could literally take anyone's memory and use it?"

"Not quite. A memory has to be willingly given for it to work." The headmaster explained. "And they can be altered... though it is very difficult to do so."

"So you're trying to get this guy," Edward jerked a thumb in Neji's direction, ignoring the glare aimed at his back, "to give you a memory? What's it about?"

"The memory is about a prophecy that was made quite recently regarding the future of this world." The woman sighed.

"Ah, life or death, end of the world stuff. I'm good with that." The blond grinned and pushed his sleeve up. "So lets go boy! I want to see this memory for myself!" Neji's eyes narrowed even more at the alchemist. How dare he call him boy!

"Professor Elric, please refrain from starting fights. The house elves have enough to do without cleaning up after a fight."

Laughter sprang from his lips and he held his hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry, when you get to be my age you call everyone boy or girl."

Neji raised an eyebrow but Naruto beat him to the punch.

"He's around one hundred years old and from another planet." The brunet gave his lover a look before glancing at the professor.

"Yes, that is true. Though... the world I'm from is pretty much exactly the same. Places and names are different, but the world itself is the same. And people... some from my side look the same as people here. Well, they did ninety years ago anyway." Ed reminisced.

"You mean there are others from your world here?" Neji asked skeptically.

"Not quite..." Edward smiled. "My younger brother made it back with me... but seeing as he wasn't a philosopher's stone he died a few years back."

"Oh, my apologies." Neji bowed stiffly.

Edward merely smiled gently. "It's been many years now." The older blond held his hands up in an appeasing gesture. "Back to the matter at hand yes? The memory?"

Neji nodded and stepped forward to stand in front of the elder witch. She placed her wand tip gently at his temple and gave him a reassuring look. "Please think of the prophecy." As she started pulling the wand away, a thin silvery substance followed. The woman took the memory and put it into the bowl after removing her own. "Now, we shall all see the prophecy."

"Okay. Myself, Kakashi, Iruka, Naruto, Sasuke and Neji will be going. You all wait here." Nods came from the room full of ninja. "We're ready."

Shikamaru turned to McGonagall. She in turn nodded to her students.

"You may want to come as well." The three stepped forward.

Edward waited this time for everyone else to step forward before touching the shining surface of the pensieve.

-

Inside the memory the group followed Neji. They followed his climb into the tower and up into Trelawney's classroom.

"God she's creepy when she's about to have a vision..." Harry shivered. "This isn't the first time she's done it."

Naruto shivered as well and was about to add in his own opinion when the colours around them inverted and the world expanded.

"What the hell?" Ron swore as he struggled to interpret what he was seeing. The other wizards looked to Neji.

"I see the world like this when I activate my bloodline ability, the Byakugan." He explained. "It gives me a three hundred sixty degree field of vision and allows me to see the tenketsu as well as chakra flow."

"What are the tenketsu?" Hermione asked.

"The points on the body that control the flow of chakra. You can control your chakra by blocking, releasing, or interrupting any of these points." The witch looked stunned as did the other magically inclined people in the memory.

"He's got bloody x-ray vision!" Ron laughed.

Neji snorted at the redhead. He would have said more but he knew that the prophecy was coming right up. As soon as the bug eyed woman finished her prophecy the memory morphed again into a flash of red and orange chakra amidst a destroyed village. It flared about and it it's centre was Naruto in his Eight Tails form. The memory flashed and they were suddenly in the kitchen again.

"What was that?" Harry's eyes were wide in shock.

"That is the demon that we believe is part of the prophecy." Shikamaru noted from behind his mask glaring daggers at the Hyuuga. Everyone turned to look at the genius. He faced the rest of his team and explained. "For some reason another memory popped up at the end. The village when it was attacked by Pein."

"So this demon is Pein?" Hermione enquired. She couldn't gauge the reactions of the ninja from her question.

"No, that 'demon' destroyed Pein..." Sakura replied as she looked awkwardly at Shikamaru. "Deer-san..."

A grumbled 'troublesome' made it's way to the ears of the group. Naruto took this as his cue.

"Eighteen years ago in our village a nine tailed fox demon was defeated and sealed away by the self sacrifice of the Yondaime. The Fourth Hokage. He paid his life to defeat the demon and save our village. He also used his son as a host to store the demon so that it couldn't hurt anyone ever again." Naruto took a deep breath. "That host is me. I'm called a Jinchuuriki by the villages. That memory was three years ago when I lost control to the demon and almost lost myself..." Neji laid a hand on his lover's shoulder. He leaned forward and whispered in his ear softly. The blond smiled softly and nodded to the brunet. "I was able to come back from that because my father built a fail-safe into the seal." He pulled up his shirt to show the seal on his stomach. "Our chakra mixes and becomes one. As long as I don't draw too much chakra at once from the Kyuubi I won't lose control."

"So that's what you meant when you said you had different energy than your teammates." McGonagall observed.

"Yes." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "It's kind of a national secret so that's why we didn't say anything before. I mean... I didn't even know about it until I was twelve."

Kakashi glanced from Naruto to Iruka and back. Both men wore the same expression on their faces.

"That's quite alright. From what I've seen you're no where near out of control like that memory." The witch replied. "Does anyone else have any insight into the prophecy?"

Edward raised a hand jokingly. "The part about the gate is bothering me." At the questioning looks he received he elaborated. "That's how I got to this world. My brother and I destroyed the gate on this side... or at least we thought we did. We had no way to tell for sure seeing as our alchemy isn't supposed to work on this side."

"But if it's shut..." Harry temporized. "That means that if someone tried to open another one on the other side, we'd have a big problem on our hands. The last time it was opened this world tried to attack the other one. The gate needs to be destroyed completely, not just shut."

While this sank into their minds Shikamaru added another thought. "We think the curse applies to Sasuke. It was given to him by Orochimaru... our equivalent of your Voldemort. He was known to have very snake like powers."

"Well that certainly fits." Hermione tapped her fingers on her chin. "What does your curse do? Perhaps we can remove it? St. Mungo's has the best healers in all of the wizarding world."

"I don't think this is the kind of curse you're used to dealing with." Sasuke looked down on the witch. "And as long as I don't want to use it, the seal that is around it allows me to fight it off completely." The woman raised an eyebrow but held her tongue. Harry, however, didn't.

"What if you used it then? And that's why it comes back? It would be best to remove it I think."

"Actually, there is no way to remove it." Kakashi stepped in. "Especially with the lack of a seals expert since Jiraiya-sama died."

"I'd appreciate it if you'd allow us to make an attempt at least." The headmaster put in. "You don't know if our methods will fail if you've never seen them."

"I agree McGonagall-san." Iruka said. "We've had our best medics on it since it happened but we've yet to break it. But if you want the source of the curse we'll need to send for him. The Hokage is currently studying him to try help him."

"And I'm the resident expert on the curse seals because I worked under Orochimaru when he was still alive. I was one of his scientists." Karin waved from across the room with a bored expression.

"Then we are in agreement?" The headmaster asked. "We will send for this person and let the staff at St. Mungo's attempt to break this curse?" Sasuke glared at the woman but nodded. "Excellent. I suggest that we all get some rest now. Tomorrow is another busy day for us all." She stood and motioned towards the door.

Edward held his hands up quickly and pointed at Naruto and Sai. "If I could speak to you both quickly..."

The two nodded as the other ninja all poofed out of existence.

The wizards and witches in the room gaped. "How do they do that?"

The alchemist walked quickly to the two ninja, ignoring the stunned magical folk, and put his hands on his hips. He leaned forward and inspected them.

"I noticed you two fighting in class. What's going on? You don't seem to be fighting now." He straightened up again and crossed his arms over his chest.

The two men smirked at each other.

"We're only pretending so that the Slytherin will trust me. I'm trying to get to the bottom of the attack in the hallway as well." Sai explained.

"Oh." The blond nodded. "Okay, as long as it's not real."

"Sorry to have caused you any trouble." The artist nin smiled.

"No, that's fine. I just didn't want a repeat performance in the classroom. I assume neither of you will go as far as to actually duel each other."

"No, we just argue a lot." Naruto laughed.

Edward waved goodnight and watched as the last two ninja poofed out as well.

"I really wonder..."

-

Okay, before anyone says anything, because I know someone is going to go 'wait a sec'... In the books and movies, memories that are in the pensieve are not seen through the person's eyes, but rather like seeing a movie of yourself. I think that while this is true, if the person suddenly saw the world in a different way, the memory itself would reflect that because that is how they remembered it. So that's why the Byakugan scene happens.

And again, so sorry for the wait. I just moved into a new apartment with my boyfriend finally and he decided to rebuild my computer. He forgot to put on it at first, but he did that today so I was able to write some more.

In other news, my daughter said her first word last week. "Dada." of course. She's also taking her first few steps without holding onto something so I've been having to keep an extra eye on her at all times.

I hope this chapter answered a few questions... If not, lemme know, I'll try to explain better I guess.

**Review Replies**

Charm, thanks for the lovely review! I always appreciate honesty. You get a glimpse of why Ed is here this chapter… but until the major plot comes into action… (The actual enemy) the real reason isn't quite clear. And I actually agree with you on the Sasuke and Sakura situation… I've never liked the pairing. Ever. But it was requested lol. I don't think it'll happen though. Suigetsu is a more likely candidate for him. I believe I mentioned that he and Sasuke were living together in the first chapter.

Soraya, yes. I feel bad for Hermione. And thanks! I wasn't sure if it sounded too forced between them. More on why they did that in this chapter.

Kari, heh heh heh… maybe? Again, I wasn't sure if it sounded forced between Sai and Naruto…

Dragonlover, thanks for subscribing! I'll try to make it longer. It really depends on how long my baby will sleep!

Doll, yes, yes he is. Poor, poor Sai. We still love him though.

Winged, thanks for joining us! I hope you enjoy the story even more!


	12. Chapter 12

Okay... so it's been a long wait for you all. Sorry. I know I apologize every chapter but I really mean it every time. My daughter decided after her first few steps that she liked walking and she's now running. I kid you not. She's been getting everywhere and into everything. Also, I've been playing Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2... awesome games. I also apologize for the format of last chapter. For some reason the formatting didn't transfer with the file and I tried many, MANY ways to upload it. I ended up having to edit it on the site itself and put spaces between all the paragraphs and it still didn't keep my page breaks... so I was rather annoyed and that was another reason I haven't written for a while... I think we can all say the main reason was my laziness. Yes. We'll go with that. Oh, and Otafest in Calgary kept me pretty busy. I went as Tsunade, my boyfriend as Jiraiya, my sister as Orochimaru, and my daughter as Baby Naruto. God... so many pictures taken of us. Check out my DA account (DuetMaoim) for some of the pictures.

Chapter 12

Harry, Ron and Hermione huddled together as tight as they could and still walk under the invisibility cloak. There were toes stepped on and elbows in ribs the whole trip. They tried to be as silent as possible of course, especially when they noticed Naruto wandering the halls. So far they'd encountered Naruto, Deer-san and another masked man that they'd yet to be introduced to. The transfer student and the masked men hadn't seemed to notice them but you could never be sure with their new friends. The blond had seemed to be everywhere they went, always crossing their path no matter where in the castle they were. They'd stopped to listen to the men talking in one corridor but gave up quickly because all they could hear was a rather quick Asian dialect.

Once outside on the school grounds and halfway to Hagrid's new cabin Harry removed the cloak and carefully stuffed it into his shirt.

"I think they were speaking Japanese..." Hermione revealed. "Before I found out that I was a witch I'd wanted to go into several language courses at school. Japanese was one of them."

The boys nodded, used to her frantic search for knowledge by now.

"Let's hurry and go see Hagrid." Harry said quietly lest he alert anyone who might also be outside.

Hogwarts' Golden Trio had taken less than three steps when a sharp clang was heard and a flash of sparks lit up the night in front of them. Hermione tried to stifle a scream.

Their blond friend had his back to them and a strange looking knife in his hand blocking the short sword that a cloaked figure was hold in both hands. The figure discarded the sword as he jumped back and pulled out a wand.

Naruto turned to the three and yelled at them. "Get out of here!" As he was turning back to the immediate threat a jet of green light hit him square in the chest.

"Naruto!" Harry bellowed as he took aim with his wand. He'd pulled it out the moment he'd heard the clang from the knife and sword hitting. "Stupify!"

The blond fell onto his back and was still. Hermione started casting hexes through her tears and Ron set about shielding his friends. The three wove in and out of the colored streams of magic that were just barely missing them. Finally Hermione managed to hit the figure with a tongue swelling hex that had them grabbing at their face and choking. Ron and Harry were about to jump the figure when Deer-san and another man in a mask that they had not met appeared. Deer was crouched with his hands in a symbol unfamiliar to the witch and wizards. Suddenly the figure they'd been fighting was in the same position still making choking sounds but no longer fighting them.

"Shadow Bind success." Deer murmured from beneath his mask. He motioned for the other masked man to secure their target. After poking the figure a few times in quick succession Shikamaru straightened up and looked like he was brushing hair back behind his ears. The trio looked confused as the figure also made the gesture and in doing so removed their hood revealing a slightly blue face and wide scared eyes.

"Why is he turning blue?" Deer turned to the three who were now huddled around Naruto's body.

"I hit him with a tongue swelling hex..." Hermione said quietly. They waited for Deer to notice his comrade on the ground but instead he put his hands on his hips impatiently. The cloaked man mimicked him again.

"Remove it. I need him to talk."

The woman's eyebrows hit her hair line as Ron protested with an enraged shout. "That guy just killed Naruto! You want us to be nice to him?"

There was a sigh from the other masked man as he walked quickly to the blond's side. He kicked the prone body and it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Bloody HELL!" Ron roared, unsure of what to do now.

"Naruto is fine." The man said. "Remove the spell."

Hermione twisted her wand to and fro in a complicated pattern and the man's face slowly returned to normal. The look of shock was frozen on her face.

"How is he okay? He was hit with the Killing Curse! One of the Unforgivables!" She cried.

A hand clasped gently on her shoulder and she gasped as she turned.

"Naruto!"

"Hey guys, sorry for worrying you. That wasn't really me."

At their confused looks he chuckled as he formed a few signs that they had learned in class.

"Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" He smirked when their eyes seemed to literally pop out of their heads. The twenty Naruto's that he'd conjured up were all waving at them. Some were arguing with each other and starting fights. After a few of them 'popped' each other he just released the jutsu with a "Kai!"

"How on earth did you do that?"

Naruto just shrugged. "You might just get to learn in class with Iruka-sensei."

An annoyed voice floated over to them. "If you're done now? I suggest we take the prisoner in and interrogate him."

"Yeah good idea Dove-san." Naruto nodded. "You guys really shouldn't have been out here anyway... what were you doing sneaking around the castle? How did you guys do it invisibly?"

Deer shook his head and released his jutsu. The man toppled over in confusion. His arms and legs seemed to betray him.

"How did you do that?" Ron countered the blond's question.

"Dove-san blocked his tenketsu points that controlled his arms and legs... kind of like pressure points."

"Oh."

Hermione whipped her wand out again and pointed it at the man. "Incarcerous." Ropes flew to the man and bound him. "Just in case." She said.

The masked man now known as Dove-san shook his head slightly and picked the man up by the ropes binding him. As he slung the man over his shoulder the man emitted a shriek of pain. Dove merely started toward the castle at a slow loping run and the man started crying pitifully. His nearly white hair swung about his tanned face.

"So how and why did you get out here?" Naruto reiterated.

"Oh uh..." Ron looked to Harry. The boy-who-lived rolled his eyes.

"I have an invisibility cloak. We were going to visit our friend Hagrid."

Naruto's eyes were the size of dinner plates. "Can I see it?"

Harry reddened slightly. "Sure, just be careful with it."

The blond accepted the proffered cloak and swung it around himself. He grinned in excitement as his body vanished and left a floating head.

"Cool! This would make missions SO much easier!" He babbled absently. "I wouldn't have to use chakra to blend in with shadows!"

The three students looked to each other and shrugged. They were already used to not understanding much of what the blond said.

"Um... So we're still going to head to Hagrid's cabin..." Hermione spoke up.

"Okay, I'll tag along and make sure no one else tries to kill you." He grinned at the frowns he got from the two men. Hermione only looked relieved.

"Thank you Naruto. I guess you get to meet Hagrid tonight. He's the Care of Magical Creatures professor."

"What?" Naruto exclaimed. "You mean like dragons and unicorns and stuff?"

"Exactly." She smiled. "Only, we don't take care of dragons anymore."

"Aw... bummer."

"No man, believe me... it's a good thing." Ron sighed and proceeded to tell the story of Norbert who later became Norberta.

"Wow!" The blond laughed. "But that doesn't sound so bad... I had to escort a boatload of animals across a sea and protect the people at the same time... I was also only 12 at the time but hey. We only got stupid missions back in those days." He groused.

"What do you mean 'missions'?" Harry inquired. "We've heard you talk about them before."

"Oh. In our village we are adults the moment we become genin... that is the lowest rank, when we pass an exam and earn our headbands and are considered ready to start missions." He pointed his thumb proudly at his forehead protector. "After that there's the chuunin like Iruka-sensei and then jounin like Kakashi-sensei. The very highest is the Hokage."

"What are Deer-san and Dove-san?" Hermione asked the question that they'd all been thinking.

"They're called ANBU. They technically have no rank but are considered the highest and most prestigious... our black ops if you will. They do the dirty work that goes on behind the governments backs and such."

"Really?" Ron asked. "So Deer and Dove are like... The Unspeakables."

"Sounds like it Ron." Harry nodded. "They're Aurors... combat wizards basically. They have a lot of physical training and are extremely good at all subjects we learn here in school. You need to have high marks to even be considered for them."

"Harry and I want to join them." Ron put in. "We're studying harder than ever this year."

Hermione snorted. "I'll believe it when I see it."

Naruto laughed out loud when he saw the witch's look. "You sound just like Sakura when she talks to me and Sasuke."

"Well she's obviously got a lot of common sense hasn't she?" The witch pretended to stick her nose up in the air. The men in the group just sighed, knowing better than to argue; even jokingly.

"So what do you think about the prophecy?" Harry changed the subject and addressed the ninja in their group as they came into sight of Hagrid's cabin.

"I think the old lady is crazy... but if Neji thought it was important then I'll be the first to back him up. We've been friend's since we were genin... well only after he almost killed Hinata and I kicked his ass in the chuunin exams... but that's all history."

Their questions were cut off by the barking of Fang and the door swinging forward to show Hagrid holding the great dog back.

"Harry!" The half giant roared. "It's about time ye got here!" The man pulled him into a hug and dragged the three inside. Naruto followed with a grin. "Who's this now?"

"Naruto Uzumaki at your service. I'm an exchange student from Japan."

"Oh really now?" The man smiled. "I just finished making some biscuits. Would you like to try one?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the frantic pantomiming of 'no!' that the three students were attempting. He just smiled and said, "Sure! I'm always hungry."

The three closed their eyes in horror and trepidation. This could not end well.

* * *

Review Replies

Soraya – Sorry to keep confusing you! Hope this chapter helps.

Kari – Thank you! I just think that the memory takes the perspective of the person remembering. If someone else had been there and remembered it, different things would be emphasized and they would have noticed things that Neji did not. As to the seal... muahahahaha.

Doll - Thanks! My daughter is doing much better. Sorry for the lateness of this one!

SilverMoonLuna – Thanks! You definitely helped me catch a little hole in my story.

Kanberry – Thank you!

Animelover – Thanks! Hope you enjoyed this one.

Experiment13 – Ha ha ha I know... I've forgotten about him. All he really did was make a fool of himself. Thanks for the praise and review!

Thanks everyone for sticking around. Sorry for such a short chapter. More soon?


	13. Chapter 13

ARG… My first attempt on this chapter got erased by my boyfriend because he switched users to tamper with our internet connection and then had to restart for the changes to take. So… sorry to everyone for the long wait. Blame him this time! My daughter also decided to fall on her face and almost bite through her lip. She actually ended up pushing one of her teeth halfway back into her gums. Lots of blood and screaming later she was perfectly fine. Fun fact of the day from her dentist: children's nervous systems are slow to develop. It starts in the trunk (chest and belly area) and works its way to the extremities like hands, feet, fingers and toes. It reaches the face and mouth last. You could clip off a 6 month old baby's tongue and it would only complain about the massive amount of blood. Not that you should. Just an example of what I learned from the dentist. I was worried about her not showing any pain because when I was little I actually bit through my lip (I tripped on a shoe and hit the corner of a table) and I was in a lot of pain.

"_Speech."_ - Japanese

Chapter 13

Edward Elric grinned happily at the changes he'd just made in his classroom as he rested his hands on his hips. The total effect of the new statues and drapery reminded him somewhat of what he'd seen of Alex Louis Armstrong's family manor. It felt completely different from the rest of the castle and that's what he'd been going for. He was about to sit down and grade his last papers for the night when he saw a masked man lope by with a small white haired man thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He raised an eyebrow but decided to tag along for curiosity's sake anyway. He also recognized the style of mask from the Japanese guard that had come with the exchange students.

"Hey what's going on?" He asked once he'd caught up to the guard.

The masked man said nothing, merely continued his pace and kept his head forward.

"If you need an empty classroom mine is available." Edward shrugged as he kept following. The man stopped in his tracks and gestured with a hand to lead the way. "Man of few words I take it." He examined the man's mask as he led the way back to his classroom. "Where are the eyeholes on your mask?" He asked in astonishment. He was sure he felt the distinct feeling of amusement emanating from the lithe man. He had experience reading emotion only through voice.

"I don't need holes to see through." Was his cryptic reply.

"Okay…" The blond shrugged and opened his door. "Here we are. Do you need anything?"

"A chair to hold him would suffice."

Ed smirked as he clapped his hands and placed them on the ground. It rose up around the man and created a crude chair that immobilized the feet and kept him upright. He could feel slight surprise from the other man but decided not to call him on it.

"There." He gestured with his hand and chuckled. "What did this guy do? He seems a little timid to have tried to do anything bad."

"He attempted to kill several students on the grounds less than an hour ago." The masked man replied. An indignant scream came from the bound man.

"_I've done nothing!" _The man cried.

"Guess he doesn't speak much English… sounds Asian to me." Edward shrugged.

"He's speaking Japanese."

"Oh, what a lucky," Edward started and was cut off when another masked man appeared with a poof of smoke next to the chair.

"There you are. Troublesome…" The other masked man glanced quickly at the blond.

"He is providing his classroom for our interrogation."

The other man merely sighed and looked at the man in the chair.

"_Who are you?" _The dove masked man folded his arms across his chest.

"_Ren Shi. I am a student of the Japanese Wizardry School." _His tanned and tear stained face peeked through silvery white locks.

"_Do you care to explain why you attacked those students?" _ He asked in a more stern tone of voice. The young man visibly shivered.

"_I don't know! I was studying a scroll in the library and I then I was suddenly tied up over your shoulder! I haven't done anything!"_

The two masked men looked at each other in askance. The dove masked man merely shrugged.

"His chakra system didn't change once while he spoke. He's not lying."

The white haired man suddenly looked up at the masked men in shock. His gaze lingered on the eyeless dove mask.

"_Hyuuga?"_

A stunned silence filled the room. The first to speak was the blond man.

"What's Hyuuga mean?" He asked as he looked at the bound man.

"It is a clan of very skilled warriors in our village." The ponytailed man sighed heavily. "Troublesome…"

Dove-san lowered his mask so that only his eyes showed when he looked at Shi. The veins around his eyes stood out as did his white pupil against his white eye. They ignored the surprised 'oh!' from Edward.

"_How do you know of the Hyuuga?"_ His voice was deadly.

"_A pure blood clan boasts that it was descended from the great Hyuuga clan… A clan and a warrior lost in the last great war of our country."_ He replied in awe. _"I only know one man who has eyes like yours… but they are still different."_

"It seems we must wake up McGonagall-san after all and inquire about Japanese wizards…" Dove fitted his mask securely back on his face.

"I am already here." The tall woman entered seemingly still dressed from the day before. "And I would like to know why you have detained a child under this roof." Her tone was unimpressed as she gazed at the ANBU before her.

"This 'child'," Deer-san replied sarcastically, "was caught trying to harm several students who were out on the grounds earlier this evening."

The woman's eyes widened and she looked at the silver haired boy with more caution.

"He says that he does not know what happened. He was studying and came to after we had tied him up."

"Imperioused?" McGonagall rubbed her forehead angrily. "When will these rebellions stop?"

The two ANBU looked at her thoroughly confused. She shook her head and pulled out her wand.

"Diffindo." She murmured as she pointed the wand to the ropes around Shi. They appeared to cut themselves and fall off. For the chair still wrapped around the student she looked to Edward. He clapped his hands together and touched the chair with his automail hand. It bent and twisted back into the shape of the original chair. She once more pointed her wand, this time at the boy's throat.

"Where is your wand?" She asked the lightly trembling boy.

"I don't know… I must have dropped it…"

Dove-san pulled out a long white wand and handed it to the woman with no explanation.

"Until we are sure of what to do with you, you will be placed in a room that you cannot escape. You will be fed and cared for. Any attempt to escape however, will be taken as guilt and you will be bound once more and brought before the wizarding court."

The young man nodded and allowed himself to be led out of the room by a small group of house elves.

"I believe you require another explanation Deer-san." The woman sighed. "Please come with me."

Deer-san waved to Dove-san noncommittally as he slouched off behind the witch. The longhaired man decided to vacate the room as well. He nodded in parting to the blond teacher and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Back to grading papers I guess…" He muttered sadly.

"These are good!" Naruto grinned at the half-giant man taking up half the cabin kitchen. He ignored the looks of shock on his friend's faces and contentedly continued to munch on the rock hard biscuit. "Way better than ration packs anyway. These have some taste at least."

Hagrid's smile widened at the compliment. "No one's ever said somethin' so nice 'bout my cooking before!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione had the decency to look sheepish as they each reached for a biscuit themselves. Still as rock hard and bland as ever they bravely tucked in with disbelieving glances cast Naruto's way. The blond merely grinned at them in his fox-like way.

"Hey Naruto, I've been meaning to ask…" Hermione finally spoke up. "Those whiskers on your cheeks… are they from…?"

Naruto interrupted her midsentence with a nod.

"Yeah, I have whiskers; my friend who used to be the One Tailed Jinchuuriki had black tanuki markings around his eyes. Though… he never slept so that really contributed to the black markings."

"What do you mean used to?" Harry asked excitedly. "Do you mean your demon could be removed?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. The kid was pretty sharp.

"Believe me… if we could, we would. The last time it was removed from the host my village was almost destroyed and hundreds of people lost their lives. My parents included." He shrugged. "The only way for it to be destroyed is if I die after using all of its chakra along with my own. And believe me… that's in no danger of ever happening either."

As the blond trailed off they noticed for the first time Hagrid's confused look.

"He's got a demon inside him?"

"Long story short yeah." The blond smirked. "When I get made I start to look like a fox. My eyes go red and I get fangs and sharp nails and stuff. It's pretty cool sometimes."

The grin that came from Hagrid almost frightened the students. He leaned closer as he drilled the blond ninja for answers. Finally when Naruto was almost beet red from all the questions they were interrupted by a poof of smoke carrying a white eyed brunet into the cabin.

"Neji!" Naruto cried as he latched onto the man. "Save me!"

The group around the table chucked at the man's confusion and moved around so that he was able to sit with them.

"I must politely decline." He said with a short bow. "Naruto, you are needed elsewhere."

"Wait!" Hermione gasped. "What about the guy that tried to kill us?"

After the unpredicted uproar from Hagrid and several minutes spent to calm him down the two ninja left the group with a few Naruto clones and went to patrol the perimeter of the castle. They spent several moments just relishing the alone time they had not had for days. When Naruto suddenly flinched out of nowhere Neji raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh… One of my clones just disappeared." He calmed the brunet. "I guess Hagrid's biscuits really are that awful…"

Wow… that's almost 5 pages for you dears. Sorry for the delay again guys.

Review replies:

Astrakage – Thanks! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Soraya – Thank you. And nope! I never really thought that Lucious Malfoy would want to carry on Voldemort's work after the final book. He'd probably piss himself if someone even mentioned the name. Good guess though.

Hikari – Yes… you should. I still find myself giggling over your review. Thank you!

Animelover – Yes feel sorry for him. He's so… blond :D

SilverLunaMoon – Thanks! Hope you enjoyed this one as well!

Oh, and Ren Shi is my own character. I love him to itty bitty pieces. I'll have drawings up of him and some other OCs that I plan on bringing into the story. Just FYI he gave his name last first in the traditional Japanese way. So his first name is Shi… I know, I'm evil to him. Hope you all enjoyed! Now time to do things like homework for my college course… or sleep. Not sure which yet.


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